


salvation (in our own paradise)

by inlovewithimpossibility



Series: inlovewithimpossibility's Olicity Summer Sizzle 2019 Fics [4]
Category: Arrow (TV 2012)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Dystopia, Alternate Universe - Soulmates, F/M, Implied/Referenced Torture, Olicity Summer Sizzle, Violence
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-07-12
Updated: 2020-05-03
Packaged: 2020-06-27 00:13:11
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 8
Words: 36,162
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19779322
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/inlovewithimpossibility/pseuds/inlovewithimpossibility
Summary: The Society is a strict place to be.Since the Omniscient took power they’ve proven to everyone that all human activity can be boiled down to science. All processes and movements are merely chemical reactions to be solved and reverse engineered. The human man is worth so much more, if only the soul is properly controlled. There is no space for feelings in The Society. Love is preordained. Your mate found by an algorithm and your activities strictly monitored by rules and regulations.Even the Omniscient and their Society can’t deny the bubble of ancient magic within the roots of their civilization. And when Felicity Smoak finds a tattoo on her skin, the like of which she’s only heard of in legend, hours after meeting the mysterious, guarded Oliver Queen, she finds herself in for one hell of a ride.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Just as a warning, this fic will contain language and attitudes towards women that are derogatory and antiquated in viewpoint. This is in no way reflective of my own view and will be challenged in later chapters.  
> For now, hope you enjoy

The town alarm is what wakes them all.

Young and old, rich and poor, the loud ringing of the bells pulls them all from their slumber.

For those who are deigned valuable enough to reside in the Square, the bells are particularly resound. It’s the noise Felicity Palmer has been roused to every day for the past three years. The bells ring and she and her husband rise from their bed to start their day.

There’s few alive who still remember what it was like before the Omniscient took over. There used to be more rebels and protests but as people grew to forget what it had been like in the time before and their children were born not knowing any different, peace and prosperity spread across The Society.

Or at least that’s the image they like to promote.

Felicity groans as she walks through the morning machine. They didn’t have all this high-tech stuff where she grew up and even after three years, she hasn’t gotten used to the speedy shower and being dressed by a machine.

“Good morning Mrs. Palmer, your coffee is prepared and waiting for you.”

The regimented voice of their AI speaks the familiar words as Felicity makes her way down the stairs and into the kitchen. The house is bigger than she ever used to imagine houses could be growing up and she’s still in slight disbelief that she lives in what can only be described as a mansion.

Though she never imagined how true the old titbit ‘money can’t buy happiness’ would reign.

“You know you really shouldn’t be drinking that.”

Ray’s voice no longer makes Felicity jump. She knows now after three years of marriage that he’s going to be sat at the island when she enters the kitchen. That’s the thing about living in The Society, nothing ever changes.

“Technically coffee is full of antioxidants and caffeine promotes central nervous system stimulation. Therefore, it is healthy and in line with our productivity guidelines.” Felicity rambles off the familiar response.

Coffee isn’t something a lot of people have access to, one of the benefits that come with a husband who works for the people in charge and living in the most upmarket part of society. Felicity never had a cup before the age of sixteen but she has quickly become addicted to the caffeine-filled beverage, averaging around four cups a day. It’s her only vice, she doesn’t drink or smoke like Ray and so many of his friends, so she excuses herself for her reliance on the privileged good.

“You must have built up a tolerance to it by now,” Ray tells her and Felicity shrugs, sipping the sweet nectar with a long sigh.

“It still works its magic.” She replies curtly.

“What’s my schedule for the day?”

Just like that, the brief moment of domesticity is gone. The charm that Ray had when their mate status was first revealed has all but worn away by this point in their marriage. The fleeting teasing of her coffee habits each morning is the only spousal warmth the two of them share and then, just like every morning, it’s straight to business.

“Your morning is scheduled in the lab and then you have a meeting with the Council at one. Then, of course, we have the gala tonight.” Felicity reels off, pulling up the information on her panel. The small, touch screen insert in her wrist allows her to access all of the information she needs to and is cleared to see. It was Ray’s first ground-breaking tech, the thing that put him in the Omniscient’s eye and now, everyone in The Society is required to have one.

“Alright, we should get moving. The Omniscient wait for no one.” Ray tells her and Felicity sighs, downing her coffee and looking longingly at the food fabricator before she grabs a banana and heads out to the shuttle at Ray’s side.

The glance she gets at the sky tells Felicity that it is blue. That is not a surprise. The sky is always blue in Starling City. After research found that productivity levels are boosted when humans perceive the weather to be nice, the projection project was launched. The piece of tech now launches an image of a nice day into the sky, even if it is miserable, and a protective barrier stops rain from getting in.

They quickly exit the gated area of the Square and head towards the shuttle stop.

The main area of the shuttle looks packed, as it always does this early in the morning, but Felicity follows Ray away from the queues waiting to join the public transport to the separate line a few steps away. This one leads only to the Tower, only for the mated, and is, therefore, practically empty. Ray gestures her towards a seat and Felicity sits down, her husband in the seat across from her.

Felicity looks out the window at the city flying past. She doesn’t try to engage Ray in conversation, not after the first time when he had looked at her as if she had two heads and told her that he likes to use travel time to catch up on communications he may have missed.

Some people talk of how Starling used to be before the Glades declared themselves independent and the city was the epitome of the American class divide. Of course, that word’s banned now within the city walls. People are not Americans, they are members of The Society and subjects of the Omniscient.

“The Tower.”

The overhead voice speaks plainly and Felicity rises from her seat, following her husband off the shuttle and into the tall, imposing building. The Tower sits in the middle of the city and it is where the Omniscient are based out of. All the algorithms that control everyday life in The Society are run from within the Tower and the secrets of the Omniscient’s success lay within its walls as well.

That level of high profile information means heavy security. There are long lines of mateless workers every day who have to be scanned and searched every time they enter and exit the building. For the mated, however, it’s a much simpler process.

“Good morning, Mr. Palmer.” The security guard greets at the mated gate greets. Ray nods politely at him and steps aside to let Felicity through first. The guard averts his eyes, as a mateless, if he’s suspected of showing any form of disrespect to a Society wife, he could lose everything. Including his life.

It doesn’t surprise Felicity that most of them choose to avoid looking at her.

They reach Ray’s lab and Felicity’s desk which sits outside it, visible through the glass wall, and Felicity settles down into her seat.

Another day in the office.

Another day that’s exactly the same as the last.

* * *

Her morning is boring. It involves a lot of arranging meetings for Ray and rearranging other meetings. Ray doesn’t break for lunch so she doesn’t either, eating the sandwich, Helen, the mateless worker brings her from the food fabricator downstairs. It’s bland and dry but Felicity thanks her profusely for it, nonetheless, smiling at the smile she manages to put on the young girl’s face.

“Felicity?”

Ray calls her into his office just as she finishes eating and she moves quickly.

“What’s up?” She asks, frowning as he shuts down half of the protocols in the lab.

She knows what this means.

He wants her help with something.

“I can’t seem to get this processor to run at its full capacity.” He explains in a low voice, quiet enough that if the microphones in the lab are still enabled, they won’t be heard. Felicity frowns, moving to look at the code. Within a couple of seconds, she spots the issue and fixes it, stepping back with a smile.

“There you go, that should do it. You just had some of the code in the wrong order and it was inhibiting the processing speed.” She explains and Ray frowns, looking back over her improved code with an impressed look.

“Thank you, Felicity. I honestly don’t know what I’d do without you.” He smiles and she nods, taking a deep breath. That’s the most affectionate thing Ray has said to her in months. It’s hard not to get emotional. His panel alerts and Ray frowns, letting off a curse as he looks at the message.

“What is it?” Felicity asks and Ray shakes his head, booting up the system so that the lab is back at its full working level once more.

“The Council are here and they’ve brought a guest.” He says quietly, tidying up his work area.

“Who?” Felicity questions, very confused as to who could have her husband so rattled.

“Commissioner Chase.”

Felicity freezes.

“As in…?”

“Yes.”

She lets out a low curse of her own.

Commissioner Chase is the youngest commissioner in the history of the Omniscient. Known for his strict regulations and borderline cruel practices, he’s been serving in the Outlands for the last four years, leading the crusade against the Lawless. It was announced a week or so ago that he would be returning to society and he has been granted a higher position on the Council in payment for his service to The Society and the Omniscient.

And now he’s on his way to Ray’s lab.

“Felicity? You need to not be in here when they arrive.” Ray tells her and Felicity jolts, nodding her head.

“Right, okay, going. Now.” She tells him and takes a deep breath, moving back out to her desk with a few deep breaths. She doesn’t know why she’s so nervous, she most likely won’t be acknowledged by any members of the Council anyway.

There’s just something about Commissioner Chase. She doesn’t feel like she will feel safe around him. It’s more than his reputation.

She doesn’t know what it is.

Sure enough, when the Council arrive, they walk past Felicity’s desk and into Ray’s lab without a second glance at her.

Felicity gets a good look at Commissioner Chase as Ray starts giving the Omniscient a tour of what he’s been working on.

He’s young.

She knew this already but she wasn’t quite prepared for it. It somehow makes him scarier. If someone barely older than her can inflict all the damage he has, what will he accomplish by the time he’s older?

His face is stern with a chiseled jaw and harsh features. If he didn’t have such a terrifying persona, Felicity supposes that he might be deemed attractive but his aura is far too hard for anything of the like to properly pass through her mind.

Staying as quiet as she can, she moves to the doorway so that she can listen and she winces as she listens to Ray try and fumble his way through an explanation of a new algorithm that she wrote basically all the code for.

Not that the Omniscient will ever know that.

He can’t get it to work and Felicity knows exactly what the issue is. The men are getting more and more agitated and Felicity winces.

“You need to allow for the coefficients. It’s a binomial algorithm.” She speaks before she can control herself and all eyes in the room flick to hers.

“You allow your mateless to speak, Palmer?” Commissioner Chase questions, looking at Felicity with a snarl and she frowns, looking over at her husband.

“Felicity is not a mateless, Commissioner. She is my wife.” Ray explains but the stern man only looks more confused.

“Then what on earth is she doing here and why is she speaking as if she has any idea about what we’re looking at?” He questions, his gaze trained on Felicity with a deep scowl on his features. She immediately looks away under the intensity of his gaze.

“Mrs. Palmer was granted an exception to work as her husband’s secretary, Commissioner, due to her exceedingly high results in her pre-marital IQ test. Simply put, the Omniscient didn’t feel that a mind like hers should go to waste.” Commissioner Kord explains and Chase frowns, an eyebrow raised in question.

“That’s a strange allowance.” He comments, his eyes swooping over Felicity’s frame in a way that makes her feel wholly uncomfortable.

“She’s um… she’s Kuttler’s daughter, Commissioner.” Another member of the Council, Commissioner Bowen, speaks up and Chase’s expression spreads into a smile as understanding dawns on him. He looks Felicity up and down very purposefully, his eyes lingering on her torso and she fights the urge to fidget on her feet under the scrutiny of his gaze.

“But she shall return to your household when she bears your children, Palmer?” Chase asks but his eyes never leave Felicity’s body. She hates being discussed as if she’s not in the room, especially with Chase’s disgusting, lascivious gaze trained on her.

“Yes, Commissioner. When my wife and I are lucky enough to be graced with a child, she will return to our household to fulfill her duties as a Society wife.” Ray replies and Felicity forces herself not to gasp. She’s known that’s been the deal for years, the one that was struck after her IQ test proved that her mind might be useful. It hurts, however, to hear Ray speak the words as if he’s waiting for the day when she will stay alone in their house and play pretty little housewife with their children.

“And how long have you been married, Palmer?” Chase questions. Felicity does shiver as he walks towards her, his eyes still never on hers but trained on her body.

“Three years, Commissioner,” Ray replies quietly but Chase still catches it, the air slipping through his teeth in a hiss as he reaches Felicity’s side.

“Three years and no child? She’s obviously defunct.” Chase comments and Felicity forces herself to continue looking forward as his hand lands on her lower stomach, where she would be swelling if she were pregnant. This would be totally inappropriate behavior from anyone else but Chase is a member of the Council. With the high position that he holds within The Society, Felicity knows that any resistance or reaction could prove catastrophic for both her and Ray.

“We still have two more years to fulfill our duty to the Society.” Ray comments, reminding the commissioner of the rule and Chase lets out a slow hum. His hand falls from Felicity’s stomach but she only has a moment of relief before his lips are at her ear.

“Better get to it, Mrs. Palmer.” He tells her in a low growl and Felicity cannot stop the small yelp she lets out as his hand smacks against her ass. Tears spring to her eyes but she knows she cannot show her weakness, not in front of Chase. The man lets out a cold laugh and Felicity very almost breaks.

“Felicity, you may return to your desk.” Ray finally speaks after a moment of silence and Felicity resists the urge to slump in relief as Chase steps away from her.

“Yes, Sir.” Felicity bites back, forcing down the rage rising in her as she rushes from the room. Not wanting to sit at her desk where the Council can still see her through the glass, she flees to the bathroom and overrides the time allowance protocol in the furthest cubicle. The hot sting of humiliation rises in her and the tears follow not long after.

How dare that man put his hands on her like that? How dare he call her defunct and speak of her body as if it’s a piece of meat at a market?

It takes her half an hour to work up the courage to exit the bathroom once more and when she does, it’s to the sight of her husband stood by her desk.

“What on earth were you thinking?” Ray hisses at her, anger all over his face and Felicity frowns, confusion the only thing she can consider right now.

“I was thinking that you were about to make a fool of yourself in front of the entire Council!” She counters, moving around the desk to sit in her seat.

“Are you trying to land yourself back in the Outlands? Because you’re doing an awfully good impression of someone who is.” Ray tells her and Felicity takes a deep breath, collecting her emotions.

“No, and for your information, I only stepped in because I was trying to help _you._ Unlike you, who just allowed Commissioner Chase to humiliate me in front of the Council.” She bites back, that sick feeling rising in her once more as she remembers the feeling of his hands on her.

“Did you want me to get both of us exiled to the Outlands?” Ray asks, throwing his hands up and Felicity sighs.

“Of course not, but I did not appreciate you allowing that man to put his hands on me. I have never been so embarrassed in my life.” She tells him and Ray snorts, shaking his head.

“ _You’ve_ never been so embarrassed? I stuck a limb out for you, all those years ago, Felicity. I fought for you to be allowed to work, I didn’t reject you as my mate when I was given the chance. You _cannot_ act like that in front of the Council or we will both have to deal with the consequences.” He tells her and he’s so in her face. She’s _never_ seen him this impassioned, this angry. It’s a little scary.

“Well, I’m sorry I wasn’t worth all the effort.” She tells him, pushing away from him in her chair and she hears him sigh heavily. His hand grasps the back of her chair and spins her around to face him. She goes to protest but he speaks before she can get the words out.

“Commissioners Kord and Bowen are still here. They wish to speak to you.” He tells her, suddenly the picture of calm and Felicity frowns, very confused as to what is going on.

“Seriously?”

“Yes, and I wouldn’t keep them waiting.”

Felicity takes a deep breath and throws her deepest scowl at her husband before she wipes her eyes and moves back towards the lab where the two Omniscient Council members still stand.

“Mrs. Palmer, thank you for speaking to us.” Kord smiles patronizingly at her and Felicity nods, folding her hands in front of her.

“Of course.” She replies politely, looking between the two men with a polite smile.

“We feel, Mrs. Palmer, that perhaps it might be time for you to focus on efforts on your true purpose in Society,” Bowen tells her and Felicity frowns, looking between them and Ray.

“I apologize, Commissioners, I’m not entirely sure I understand.” She replies and Kord nods.

“It’s alright, dear. We feel that perhaps your employment here has hindered your adaptation to our ways rather than helped it in the way that we assumed it would.” He tells her and Felicity takes a deep breath as what is happening starts to sink in.

“You’re firing me?” She asks, rounding to look at her husband with an incredulous look on her face.

“Now, young lady, don’t be hasty. You’re aware that this job was a liberty in the first place. Along with your husband, we have decided that it has had an adverse effect on you.” Bowen states sternly and Felicity takes a deep breath.

“So that’s it then?” She asks and Ray shakes his head, the warning evident in his eyes. He places a hand on her back, stiff and obviously a prompt. He’s not attempting to provide her any comfort but instead warning her to behave.

“Your duties will be focused on the household now, Felicity. You were always saying you wanted to spruce the place up a bit, weren’t you, darling? Well, now you’ll have the time.” He tells her and Felicity takes a deep breath, swallowing down the lump growing in her throat.

“What an excellent idea. I’m sure Elizabeth will be happy to give you some tips.” Kord tells her and Felicity takes a deep breath, trying to muster the energy to smile at the idea of conversing about interior décor with Kord’s vile wife.

“How very kind of her.” She comments and Kord nods.

“Of course, we’re also hoping that this will help your chances of fulfilling your duty. Without the stress of a job, we’re sure that your house will be blossoming with the pitter-patter of little feet in no time.” Bowen smiles and Felicity nods, her teeth gritted in a smile.

“We can only hope, Commissioners!” Ray laughs, his hand rubbing over Felicity’s back in what she’s sure looks like encouragement to the men in front of them.

“We’ll leave you to pack up your things and head home, Mrs. Palmer. We’ll see you both at the gala tonight.” Bowen tells them and they both nod.

“Thank you, Commissioner Bowen, Commissioner Kord,” Ray comments as they head towards the door and his fingers press into Felicity’s back, obviously pushing her to do the same.

“Yes, thank you both.” She repeats quietly but is surprised as Commissioner Kord steps forward, his hand briefly brushing her arm.

“I’m terribly sorry, dear, that we ever allowed you such liberties in the first place. It is clear to us now that it inhibited your ability to fulfill your true role in the Society and for that, we are truly regretful.” He tells her, pain evident in her eyes and even as the feeling of sickness rises in Felicity’s throat, she maintains a polite smile.

“Thank you Commissioner Kord, I look forward to completing my true duty.” She spits out even though each word feels like a betrayal. It seems that the commissioner takes her anger as emotion at finally being free to be a perfect, little housewife and he smiles that infuriating smile at her once more before he and Commissioner Bowen leave.

Felicity pushes away from Ray the second they are out of sight.

“Felicity…”

He starts but she shakes her head, her eyes already overflowing with tears.

“Don’t, Ray. Just don’t.”


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Oliver makes his way back to Starling after five years away and Felicity lands herself in a sticky situation.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you all so much for your comments on the first chapter of this! I know it's a lot darker than what I usually write but I wanted to challenge myself and steer my writing in a little bit of a more mature direction. Lots of comments stated that people already have a list of people they would like to see come to a sticky end and I guarantee there will be a lot of comeupances. I hope you stick around for the rest of this journey with me! I'm going to try and have a chapter up each week but I'm on holiday next week so depending how much writing I get done over the next few days, the third chapter may be a little late.   
> Thanks for your support and please leave comments, they make my day!

The convoy back to Starling is practically empty. Oliver sits with one other man in the back of the army shuttle. His companion is a mateless, he can tell by the black tag around his wrist. Oliver wonders whether he’ll soon have one of those himself, he’s unsure of his fate when he arrives back in Starling.

He doesn’t want to think about why there are so few people on the convoy. The war against the lawless isn’t a casualty heavy one, on their side at least, but Chase and his men run a tight ship.

The tall skyscrapers of the city come into view and Oliver is drawn to the window, his eyes locked on the sight he hasn’t seen for five long years. It’s strange, this place was his home, his playground, and now, it seems so far removed from everything he knows.

He’s unsure as to whether he would have come back if he didn’t have his instructions. They’re barely ten blocks into the city and Oliver already feels suffocated by the landscape.

“It’s strange, isn’t it?”

Oliver jolts at the sound of the other man speaking and he looks over to see that he too is staring out of the window.

“I never thought I’d see it again,” Oliver replies quietly, his eyes lingering as the tall, imposing shadow of The Tower comes into view.

“None of us did.”

Suddenly the shuttle comes to a stop and the doors open. Oliver looks over at the other man. This is where their communication stops, this is where the rules of Society come back into play. Oliver nods at him is respect and receives the same back before they both reach for their singular duffle and exit through separate doors.

The station is busy, thriving with people as they move around between the shuttle lines. Oliver’s not entirely sure where he’s supposed to go from here, whether he’s supposed to walk in the mated or mateless areas of the sidewalks. His orders at the front had simply been to get on the shuttle because his punishment time was over. He’s got no idea what happens now.

“Ollie!”

He turns sharply at the sound of a familiar voice and his mouth falls open at the sight of the figure running towards him. She’s so much taller now but there’s no denying that this is his baby sister. He barely has two seconds to drop his bag before Thea throws herself into his arms with a wide grin.

“I can’t believe you’re really back!” She tells him excitedly and Oliver tightens his grip on her. He can’t believe how much she’s grown. He knows it was foolish to believe he’d still be seeing the small ten-year-old he left behind five years ago but he never could have pictured this.

“I missed you so much Speedy.” He tells her honestly and closes his eyes as he holds her tightly. He’s missed her something awful and there wasn’t a day went by when he wasn’t thinking of her and how she was doing.

“I missed you too, Ollie.” She smiles and Oliver grins as they pull away. He cups her cheek in his hand and studies her face, still in complete disbelief.

“Look at you, you are so grown up.” He tells her and she blushes, a shy smile on her face.

“You’re just in time, my mate ceremony is only two months away.” Thea grins, bouncing excitedly on her heels. Oliver cannot help the way that he stiffens at the stark reminder of what he’s here to do.

Two months.

Seems like his completion date just got accelerated.

“Wow really, only two months?” He finally forces out, a tight smile on his lips. The thought of Thea being pulled into this mess with everything that he knows now. No, he can’t let it happen and he won’t.

“Don’t say it like that. The time is dragging so much! I just want to know who my mate is so we can start our lives together!” Thea grins and Oliver grimaces, searching for a correct way to respond to that.

“And you shall, my dear, but first, we should let Oliver get settled, hmm?”

A true smile spreads across his face at the sound of another familiar voice. Unlike Thea, his mother appears entirely unchanged. Her hair is still perfectly quaffed, her clothes still neatly pressed and her posture still rigidly perfect. The smile on her face is genuine however, as she reaches for her son and pulls him into a hug.

“My darling boy. Welcome home, Oliver.” She tells him and Oliver smiles, squeezing her tightly.

“It’s good to be back, Mom.” He replies and she hums, pulling away. Her eyes linger on his face for a moment before she nods and gestures to his back.

“Get your things, let’s get you home.” She tells him and Oliver deftly picks his duffle off the floor, following his mother and sister to the shuttle that he knows leads to the Square.

He can feel Thea’s eyes on him as he looks once more out the window at Starling City flying by. It’s interesting, he’s felt a pull back here for a few years now, despite the information he’s found out about the Omniscient. Now that he’s here, he feels calm for the first time in years and he can’t put his finger on what has caused that.

“Mom?” He asks softly and his mother’s gaze snaps to his, a frown on her face.

“What is it, darling?” She asks, her voice full of concern and Oliver takes a deep breath.

“Do you… do you know what’s going to happen? What are they classing me as?” He questions, keeping his voice low as he notices two women at the other end of the shuttle eyeing them with curiosity.

“Oh my darling boy, you don’t need to worry. They’re classing you as a relict, you have bid your time for your… crimes… and you need not be punished any longer.” His mother explains and Oliver heaves a sigh of relief. It’s going to be a lot easier to complete his mission with access to the elite, if the Omniscient had decided to class him as a mateless, he’d have had a lot more work ahead of him.

“Oh, that’s a relief.” He comments and his mother smiles sadly at him, reaching across to squeeze his hand.

“It’s alright, Oliver. You don’t have to worry anymore. You’re home.” She tells him and Oliver nods, swallowing the lump in his throat.

“Yeah, thanks, Mom.” He smiles and she smiles warmly back at him, giving his hand a squeeze before pulling back. He turns to look at Thea, who is watching him with an inquisitive eye. She’s obviously trying to figure something out so Oliver paints a smile on his face and turns to face her. “So Speedy, tell me everything.”

She looks at him for a moment longer before a smile spreads across her face. She takes a deep breath before she begins, rambling away about her life and the changes in Starling over the past five years. Mostly, she babbles about who in her class she thinks her mate might be and who it might be who is older than her. She’s still chatting away when the shuttle reaches the Square and Moira ushers them both off.

“Please have identification ready for inspection.” The familiar tannoy announcement sounds as they approach the gates of the Square. The exclusive residential area for the elite of The Society has always been guarded but Oliver certainly doesn’t remember there being this much security five years ago.

Of course, they breeze past the mateless lines and towards the mated gates. His mother flashes a badge that has the guard allowing all three of them to pass through easily with a polite nod to Oliver. The guard doesn’t look at Moira and Thea, even though the young girl thanks him with a wide smile.

The Square is exactly as Oliver remembers it. A sprawling space filled with houses larger than anyone could ever need. His eyes drift towards the one at the back that he once called home, where he committed his crime against The Society.

“That’s Mr. Palmer’s house now. His wife’s kind of weird.” Thea comments casually and Oliver frowns. He remembers Ray Palmer from school. Small and scrawny, Oliver and Tommy used to joke that he would be a mateless for sure. As he grew, however, his intellect shone through and he was accepted into the Tower to work directly under the Omniscient. Last Oliver knew however, he was not married.

“Who’s his wife?” Oliver questions, his eyes linger on the house. As Thea goes to answer, however, his mother grasps both their elbows and tugs them in the direction of the Queen Mansion.

“Not in public. Come on.” She tells them and Oliver frowns. It’s not frowned upon to gossip in public. What has his mother so rattled about Palmer’s wife?

His childhood home is exactly as Oliver remembers it.

The same pictures hang on the walls, the same cushions decorate the couches. Unlike the sight of Starling’s skyscrapers however, the place doesn’t fill him with the same calm. He feels comfortable but strangely, he felt more of a pull towards the house he used to share with… the house he lived in before.

“Hurry along now, Thea. You missed enough school today so please go and catch up.” His mother tells his sister and Thea frowns, looking towards Oliver.

“But I wanted to tell Ollie more about what’s changed since he’s been gone!” She protests. Oliver agrees that he wants to hear what his sister has to say but he knows not to aggravate his mother.

“It’s okay Speedy, we can catch up later. You should go focus on your school work.” He tells her and Thea huffs, spinning on her heel towards the stairs.

“You better hold onto that promise, Ollie!” She tells him and Oliver smirks at the glimpse of the sister he once knew. It seems that Thea has not gotten any less dramatic over the past five years.

“Yes, some things don’t change.” His mother comments with a warm smile when he remarks on it. “Your father could not step away from the office so he shall greet you at the gala tonight.”

“Gala?” Oliver questions with a frown, looking at his mother in surprise.

“Goodness, they really didn’t tell you anything, did they?” She huffs and Oliver chuckles.

“The orders were, ‘your time is up, Queen. Get on the shuttle, you’re going home’.” He repeats and his mother sighs.

“Yes, well, tonight is the annual gala for the work that The Tower contributes to The Society. You remember it’s a big deal for your father and he agreed with the Council that it will be the perfect time for you to be welcomed back into The Society.”

“Mom, I don’t think…”

“Oh no, you’re going. Your suit is upstairs in your old room. It starts in an hour so you should probably make a move.” She tells him before she heads up the stairs himself.

“Welcome home to me.” He mumbles under his breath as he grasps his duffle bag and heads up the stairs.

* * *

The old suit is too tight everywhere. His arms look as if they may bulge out of it at any moment. It’s strange. He hasn’t thought of himself as growing in his time away but he supposes that his newfound strength must come with some expansion.

The knock on his door makes him jump but he cannot help the smile that spreads over his face at the sight of who’s behind it.

“Raisa!” He grins and the elderly Russian lady smiles back at him.

“It is so good to see you home, Mr. Oliver. I have brought some food and coffee. You must be hungry after your trip.” The maid smiles and Oliver steps aside to let her into the room, watching as she places the tray down.

As she turns, she looks at him and then very distinctly looks to the corner of the room where Oliver knows the microphone is installed. The surveillance was how they’d gotten caught before. He, Laurel and Tommy. He’s not so naïve now. He won’t be making the same mistake again.

“Thank you, Raisa. That’s very kind of you.” He replies courtly but squeezes her hand as she walks past him to the door. She gives him a bright smile before disappearing around the door. Oliver sighs, thinking of how he might be able to get Raisa somewhere safe to explain what happened to her fully. She was so instrumental at the time, she deserves to know what came of them all.

* * *

The gala is just like the ones Oliver remembers.

Held in the ground floor of The Tower, the building looks vastly different from how it does usually. Draped in the finery of gold cloths and tables loaded with food added to the open space, it looks far more like a ballroom than the entrance area it usually serves as.

The main difference between the day and these events, however, is the number of women wandering around. Wives of the mated do not work in The Society so these events are generally the only time they are allowed to enter The Tower. Sure enough tonight, there are plenty of wives dressed in their finest gowns.

His mother leads him through the crowd and Oliver tries to ignore the way all eyes turn to him as he walks past. The whispers aren’t as quiet as the speakers think, he supposes, but it’s not anything he wasn’t expecting. It’s why he didn’t want to attend such a public event so that this might happen behind closed doors rather than him having to deal with it but his mother would not back down it seems.

He realizes that they’re heading over to where his father is stood and the nerves rise in him. Oliver saw his father for a fleeting second after everything went down and all he caught was a disapproving look before the shuttle doors closed and he was shipped away. Seeing his father now after all these years, he truly doesn’t know what to expect.

“Oliver, my boy! Welcome home!”

The booming voice isn’t that of his father’s but instead Malcolm Merlyn, who looks entirely too happy to see the man so caught up in his son’s…

 _Fresh start._ Oliver reminds himself.

Thinking of Tommy and Laurel now is only going to make matters worse.

“Ambassador Merlyn, thank you. I’m happy to be home.” Oliver replies, faking a tense smile for his father’s friend and co-worker. He remembers their simultaneous promotion to ambassadors from commissioners, it was such a huge deal at the time that involved a big party and a delicious chocolate cake.

“Oliver.” His father’s voice catches his attention and Oliver turns to look at him. Much like his wife, Robert Queen appears mostly unchanged for the five additional years he’s lived since his son saw him. He still carries himself with that air of importance and luxury that Oliver has always associated with both of his parents.

He extends his hand out.

“Welcome home, son.”

“Thanks, Dad,” Oliver replies with another tight smile, shaking his father’s hand. They’ve never had the closest relationship so Oliver is surprised when Robert affectionately slaps his other arm against Oliver’s bicep.

“Here, I’d like to introduce you to The Tower’s newest and greatest tech developer, Mr. Ray Palmer.” His father directs and Oliver frowns, turning around. He expects to see the same skinny boy he’d known growing up but Ray looks completely different. His scrawny body has changed almost completely to a similar build as Oliver himself and he looks far more intimidating than Oliver could have ever imagined.

“Queen, it’s good to see you back.” Ray smiles and extends his hand. Oliver smiles as well, albeit far faker, and he shakes his hand.

“Thank you very much, Palmer. You’ve certainly made a space for yourself, congratulations.” Oliver smiles and Ray nods.

“Where is your wife, Mr. Palmer?” Moira asks with a kind smile and Oliver watches as Ray frowns, looking around.

“Oh, she’s over there. You know Felicity, she’s quite the social butterfly.” The scientist smiles but Oliver frowns as the obvious tension in his words.

First his mother’s dismissal of Thea’s comment earlier and now this strange interaction.

What is it about Palmer’s wife?

Oliver turns to where Ray is gesturing and immediately freezes.

She’s stood in a group of women but somehow, Oliver knows immediately which one Felicity is.

She’s absolutely stunning.

Long, flowing blonde hair half pinned up in the front and even though she’s got a rather miserable looking expression on her face, Oliver could swear that she’s glowing. Her dress is gorgeous, bubblegum pink with two thin spaghetti straps. It’s elegant and appropriate at the same time as making her stand out and look her age. She can’t be older than twenty.

Oliver jumps as a hand lands on his arm and he looks down to see his mother looking at him with a stern expression. It’s only then he realizes that he’s taken several steps away from the group and towards Palmer’s wife.

Crap.

What is wrong with him?

“How long have you been married?” He questions, trying to cover his ass and Ray sends him a strange look but plays along.

“Three years.” The tall man replies and Oliver raises an eyebrow.

“You must not have waited long after your ceremony. She can’t be older than twenty.” He comments and even though he knows he’s walking dangerous ground right now, Oliver can’t help himself. He just feels like he needs to learn all he can about this girl.

“Oh, Felicity’s nineteen. We combined the wedding and the ceremony.” Ray replies nonchalantly and Oliver has to stop himself from coughing in surprise.

“Nineteen?”

No wonder the poor girl looks miserable.

It’s practically unheard of for a couple to marry soon after their ceremony. Even though The Society trusts the algorithm, the fact that it manifests at sixteen is still very taboo. Families are often reluctant to marry their daughters at such a young age so the rule states that the couple has two years to complete the process of marriage before they incur any punishment.

It seems no such process was taken with Ray and his wife, however.

“Yes, it was quite the surprise when Mrs. Palmer appeared as Ray’s mate on the algorithm but the algorithm never lies. We agreed to bring her in from the Outlands but decided it would be best to settle her right into married life.” Malcolm Merlyn explains and Oliver nods, pretending that this all makes sense to him.

She’s from the Outlands? Then why on earth would she even be in the system? The Lawless aren’t registered members of The Society.

“Ambassador Queen, Ambassador Merlyn, sorry to interrupt but Commissioner Kord would like to speak to you.”

Robert and Malcolm both nod and smile politely at Oliver and the others.

“Sorry boys, duty calls.” Robert smiles and Oliver watches as the two men walk across the room, the crowd parting like the Red Sea. It disgusts him now to think that his father’s lifestyle was ever something he hoped he could one day have.

“I’ll see you later, darling.” Moira smiles and heads off towards a group of women on the other side of the room, leaving Oliver stood with Ray. 

* * *

Felicity is miserable.

After the humiliation of what happened here today, the last thing she wished to do was step back inside this building but Commissioners Bowen and Kord made it very clear that they expect to see both she and Ray here tonight.

She’s never enjoyed these galas.

They’re the sort of place where she’s expected to stand still and look pretty.

She supposes that’s what’s expected of her at all times now.

It’s obvious the other wives don’t approve of her dress, not that Felicity particularly cares about their opinions. She supposes they want her to wear something more modest and less eye-catching in color but she’s nineteen years old, for heaven’s sake. She’s not going to dress like an old lady. Her fuchsia gown is the one thing she actually likes about this evening and she’ll be damned if these women take that away from her.

“Ted tells me you may be interested in shopping for some household décor.” Elizabeth Kord smiles at her, her fingers daintily poised on her glass of champagne. “Of course, I’d be delighted to come along and help you. I know you didn’t have the best example to teach you these things or really a place to practice them.”

“We did have a house in the Outlands.” Felicity reminds her, a sickly smile of her own on her face as she clasps her own glass of champagne tightly.

It’s common practice at these things. The wives love to taunt her about her mother, about the way that she grew up. To remind her that she’s not like them, that she doesn’t truly belong.

“You can’t deny that your life here is better, Felicity. Careful, you wouldn’t want anyone to think you were ungrateful that the Omniscient allowed you to be plucked out of obscurity.”

Felicity turns at the sound of the ice-cold voice. Of all the wives she’s forced to interact with, Isabel is her least favorite. Wife of Commissioner Wilson, she’s never been a fan of Felicity’s or her sudden reappearance in The Society. Felicity doesn’t mind all too much, she’s not a fan of anything to do with Isabel either.

“Please excuse me, ladies, I find I suddenly need to use the restroom.” Felicity smiles tightly, placing her glass on a nearby table and heading down the corridor to where the restrooms are. Rolling her eyes, she heads straight for the sink, looking at herself in the mirror and rolling her eyes. “Ungrateful. Yes, I’m fucking ungrateful. Ungrateful that you held a gun to my friend’s head and forced me to leave behind the only life I knew to come here and spend my life standing still and looking pretty.”

The mirror, unsurprisingly, does not answer her back and she forces herself to take a deep breath before she leads herself into an anxiety attack. She knows the majority of the people in the room outside know very little of her actual story and are only acting off the little information that they do have.

Still, to hear her mother, the woman who gave everything to keep her daughter alive and safe and happy, be insulted by these women who don’t understand what it means to fight for your life. It’s heart-wrenching. No matter how many times it happens.

“Oh Mama, what I wouldn’t give to see you again.” She whispers as the tears form in her eyes once more, clutching at the locket around her neck. The one she hasn’t removed for three years.

She’s accepted that the life she left behind is in her past but what she wouldn’t give to hug her mother just one last time. Hell, she’d take knowing that she’s still alive.

“Okay, Felicity, you’re only going to drive yourself crazy like this.” She tells herself. She takes one last deep breath, fixes her hair and makeup quickly before heading back over to the door of the restroom.

The hallway, however, isn’t empty like she assumed. Instead, standing in front of her is the imposing form of Commissioner Chase with that disgusting smirk on his face.

“Good evening, Mrs. Palmer.”


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Oliver and Felicity meet and a strange phenomenon has one of them baffled and the other determined.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi guys! I hope you all enjoy the two of them finally meeting! Thank you all so much for your comments, they have been making my day and I'm so glad that you're all intrigued by this so far!

“So you work mostly in technology development?” Oliver questions after he and Ray have been stood next to each other for an awkward length of time.

“Yes, most of the time. The panels were my first.” Ray explains, turning his arm over to show Oliver the technology. He’s obviously aware of it, even those on the front were given the new development when it spread across The Society.

“They’re incredibly ingenious. You’ll have to excuse my ignorance Mr. Palmer, I was never really present at the Tower even before my time away. How closely do you work with other departments? The mating department for example?” He questions, trying to act as nonchalant as possible. If he can find out who he needs to get the information out of, he’ll be able to speed up his mission considerably.

It’s a risk but one he’s willing to take to keep Thea out of this mess.

“Oh no, I rarely interact with the other departments. I hear a little from the mating department, just because of Carter. Do you remember Carter from school? He’s one of the leaders in there now.” Ray tells him immediately and Oliver raises an eyebrow.

“Carter Bowen?” He questions and Ray nods.

“Yes, who would have guessed that party boy Bowen would have taken up such a high position in Society?” Ray chuckles and Oliver fakes a laugh of his own. It was obvious to him that Carter was going to assume such a role, just like Oliver and Tommy, his path was practically written for him by his father’s own position in Society.

The fact that Carter works in the mating department seems a little too easy though. He forces himself not to be too optimistic.

“I guess some people really do change.” Oliver smiles and Ray nods. “Excuse me please Palmer, I need to go to the restroom.”

Palmer eats up his lie and Oliver jumps at the chance to slip away. Heading over to the side of the room, he tries to scope out where the other man might be. Just as he thinks he spots his familiar face, a chilling sound reaches his ear.

“You know, Mrs. Palmer, I was so intrigued to learn of your return to The Society. I never would have thought the Council would allow a worthless lawless back into the city. If I had my way, you would still be stuck with your little friends in the Outlands and I would have free range over your demise.”

Chase.

The voice of his old commanding officer sends chills down Oliver’s back. No one had been gladder to see the back of that man than he had and it has lasted far too short of a time before Oliver was placed on a convoy of his own back to Starling.

Following the sound of his voice, he sees the man towering over Palmer’s wife, the beautiful blonde that the scientist pointed out across the room not ten minutes ago. The poor woman is shaking, staring up at Chase with fear in her eyes but there’s also a determination to her gaze, her jaw locked in a defiant manner.

Oliver’s feet move closer of their own volition.

“Chase, get away from her. You don’t have that kind of power here.” He speaks and both of their eyes snap to him. Felicity’s face melts in obvious relief and she slips away from Chase, stumbling a few steps towards Oliver. Chase himself looks murderous for a moment before he schools his expression, a smirk spreading over his face instead.

“Well, well, well, if it isn’t the return of the prodigal son, Mr. Oliver Queen. I hope you know I argued my best case for them to declare you mateless.” Chase smirks and Oliver takes a deep breath as he tries to control his anger at the sight of the man who caused him so much pain.

“I’m sure you did, Commissioner.” He practically spits out the last word. The news of Chase’s promotion had made him sick to the stomach.

“The both of you should be in the Outlands, The Society has no place for deficients like you.” He comments, looking between Oliver and Felicity with a disgusted look on his face. Oliver is grateful as the blonde moves behind him slightly. He doesn’t know what it is about this woman but he feels this innate need to protect her.

“Insult me all you like, Commissioner, but even you don’t have the authority to threaten a Society wife.” Oliver reminds him but Chase merely lets out a chilling laugh.

“Oh but you see, I do, Queen, because Little Miss Blondie over here isn’t just any old wife and trust me, beautiful, I will find something on you and then you’ll be in my grasp.” His gaze shifts to Felicity halfway through his sentence and Oliver sees red as Chase steps towards her with a hand outstretched as if he’s going to run his fingers through her hair.

“Don’t. Touch. Her.”

The growl surprises even him and Felicity jumps a little. it doesn’t seem to faze Chase however and he lets out another laugh, shaking his head.

“You think you’re such a hero, Queen. Just remember where your heroics got you last time. Under my command and under my thumb. But go ahead, I’d love to spend a little more time teaching you how to behave. Maybe I’ll put you in rooms next to each other, so you can hear each other scream. How would that make you feel, Queen, knowing that you walked such a pretty young woman right into my clutches?”

As he speaks, Oliver forces the images that fly into his head out. He can’t think about the sounds of the screams he remembers from the front, the pain of Chase’s knife cutting into his body or the desperation as he hung on the precipice, only to be brought back to be tortured some more.

“You don’t have that power here. This isn’t the front.” Oliver spits out and the anger grows in him as Chase chuckles, brushing past them to head down the corridor.

“We’ll see about that. Bye for now, Mrs. Palmer, and remember, I’ve got my eye on all of you.”

Oliver is repulsed at the way Chase’s eyes drag down Felicity’s body and the devil lets out a loud laugh as Oliver steps in front of her fully, only relaxing as he rounds the corner.

“Oh my god.” The blonde breathes out and Oliver spins to see her shoulders slumping in relief.

“Are you alright?” He asks and she looks up at him, confusion on her face.

“Why did you help me?” She questions and Oliver freezes. By the look on her face, distrusting and confused, it seems that a simple ‘it was the right thing to do’ isn’t going to cut it here. What has happened to this woman to make her so wary? He knows that The Society is terrible, it’s why he’s trying to work to bring it down, but it seems like there’s more to it with this blonde.

“I had a friend once. She used to say ‘no woman should ever suffer at the hands of a man’.” Oliver tells her, unable to help the smile that spreads across his face as he thinks of Sara and her unwavering belief in her ability to help heal the world.

Felicity, however, barks out a laugh at his words and she stumbles back a few steps, shaking her head. “Your friend obviously didn’t spend a lot of time in this city.” She comments and Oliver frowns at her pessimism.

“Hey, _are_ you alright?” He asks and he can’t help himself as he reaches forward to touch her arm.

As his fingers curl around her skin, however, something very strange happens. Oliver’s eyes jump to meet Felicity’s and a strange spark, like an electric shock, passes between them. Next thing they both know, they’re surrounded by darkness and shouts echo from the next room as the lights and all the electricity in the building cuts out. 

“Frack!” Felicity’s voice sounds above the chaos and Oliver frowns as she slips out of his grasp. “I’m dead if they find me here.”

The sound of her heels clicking as she rushes away is the last thing Oliver hears before the lights come back on and he’s left standing alone in the corridor.

The spark, the power cut, the connection between the two of them…

He’s seen this before.

This is what got him sent away before.

This is not good.

Fuck, this is really not good.

* * *

“Felicity? There you are.”

Felicity sighs as Ray’s voice finally reaches her ears and she turns to see her husband looking at her in concern.

“Are you alright?” He asks and Felicity nods, stepping up to him.

“Can we just go home please?” She asks but he merely frowns, looking down from where he towers over her.

“Do you need to see a doctor?” He asks and she frowns, shaking her head.

“No, I’m fine.” She tells him honestly but he seems less convinced as he looks her over.

“Then why are you grasping your arm?”

Felicity looks down and gasps as she realizes that she is, in fact, holding her arm right where that man’s hand had been. What had Chase called him? Queen?

“I must have bumped it in the dark. I’m fine, Ray, honestly. Can we just go home? Please?” She asks and Ray sighs, nodding his head. He looks around, as if trying to discern who’s watching them and she guesses that someone is as he places a hand on the small of her back and guides her towards the exit.

She feels eyes on her as they reach the door and she looks over her shoulder to see her savior quickly look away, his own hand rubbing the same spot on his arm. He looks back at her and Felicity frowns as her arm starts to throb. Looking down, there’s no discernible mark and when she looks back up, he’s gone.

“Felicity?” Ray asks and she takes a deep breath, nodding her head and faking a smile as she allows her husband to escort her back to their home.

* * *

Felicity’s not entirely sure how she fell asleep.

Her arm _hurts._ Like hell.

She’s beginning to think that maybe that man, Queen, had something on his hand. A toxin of some sort that would force her to break out in an infection or reaction. At three am, however, there’s still no discernible mark and she falls asleep from pure exhaustion, the events of the day weighing heavily on her mind.

The bells wake her, as normal, but she doesn’t rise with Ray as she usually does. She has no need to now.

Ray urges her to get up nonetheless but she silences him with a look and he disappears down the stairs and eventually out the door with a call of ‘have a nice day’.

The pain in her arm has lessened slightly and she moves to examine herself in the mirror in the bathroom. She looks as exhausted as she feels, her hair a mess and the dark circles under her eyes extremely prominent.

That’s not what catches her eye, however.

No. That would be the long number that has appeared on her arm. Right in the spot where her arm has been hurting all night. Right where that man touched her last night.

The number _950,022,906_ is printed in red letters.

“What the frack?” She whispers as she pulls at her skin to see it a little better. She tries to peel at it, wondering if maybe the numbers are a sticker but it appears as if she’s somehow been tattooed in the night.

Not bothering to get dressed, she heads down the corridor and keys in the code for what they tell visitors is Ray’s ‘home lab’. The secret room was actually there when they moved in, neither of them knew why, but they’ve used it to collaborate on projects in secret pretty much since their marriage and Ray’s discovery of her intelligence. It’s not explicitly stated but it’s well known that the rest of the house is bugged with microphones so this is the only place that Felicity can exercise her brain to its full extent.

She’s frustrated when a usual search does not bring up any results but as she’s always said; there’s the internet and then there’s the _internet._ Felicity is well versed in the _internet_ and she knows just how to pull what she wants to find out of it.

_Tales from across the centuries and the globe tell of ‘soulmate marks’ appearing on the skin of those who are destined to be together. Even the ancient most of stories speak of these marks appearing where soulmates make their first connection. In other words, a number will appear on the skin where a soulmate first touches another. This mark will appear in the same place on their destined’s skin. This event is generally followed by a spark, especially in developed places surrounded by electricity. It is not entirely known what the number means. It is most generally thought to represent the number of heartbeats a person has lived through before they have connected with their one true love. These marks are incredibly rare and only appear when a couple two people are truly destined. Lovers with these marks will share a deeper connection than any other couple. Those with a connection even deeper than a regular soulmate one, known around the world by many different names that all translate roughly to the ‘truly blessed or lucky’, will also experience symptoms of the connection. This could include physical pain when separated from the soulmate, ability to feel the pain inflicted on their soulmate and in the rarest of cases, the ability to feel each other through the bond. This deeper connection may develop over time. This rare and beautiful phenomenon has been secretly documented throughout history and is generally thought to be a manifestation of ancient magic that makes up the fabric of our world. If you are lucky enough to be blessed with this sort of mark, hold tightly to the connection that you share with your love and relish in the fact that despite all circumstances, fate moved the earth to bring you together._

Felicity is astounded at what she finds. The articles are all similar, describing the marks as ‘soulmate marks’ or ‘soulmarks’ and most are accompanied by documentation from across time. There are hieroglyphics that depict the phenomenon, even cave paintings that show numbers on the arms of the individuals drawn. Fantastically detailed oil paintings from the Renaissance and digital pictures from more modern times, all that show marks practically identical to Felicity’s, in places all over the body.

Fate and destiny have never been something that Felicity’s believed in. She’s led far too difficult of a life for that. To have gone through the hardships that she has, to have watched the hardships that her family has suffered, and still believe in a higher power that dictates their every move seems rather ridiculous to her. However, she can’t deny the evidence that she’s seeing here. It’s all over the place with documentation and visual evidence from almost every time period and every geographical location.

Soulmates are real.

And it appears that hers is the mystery man with the last name Queen.

She supposes step one is finding out his name.

For now, however, there’s one person she _wishes_ she could talk to about all of this. One person’s voice that she would love to hear, to calm her down in the way that it always has.

She reaches for the old satellite phone, locked in the drawer beneath the desk where Ray cannot find it and gets to tinkering. She can figure out this soulmate stuff later. Getting communication with the Outlands might be the only way to keep her sane right now.

Soulmates.

What the frack?

* * *

Oliver wakes up feeling the need to be sick.

He stumbles across to the bathroom and bends in front of the toilet, emptying his stomach into the basin. When he’s done, he slumps against the sink and forces a heavy breath through his lungs.

“Shit.”

He remembers this. Holding Laurel’s hair back as she was sick every morning after being separated from Tommy for too long. Sneaking her out of the back of the house and sneaking Tommy in.

This was so not part of his plan and he’s a little stumped as to what to do now.

A soulmate.

He never thought he’d be so lucky.

When Raisa had explained to them all what was going on, she had made it very clear that what Tommy and Laurel shared was rare and unique and once in a lifetime kind of stuff.

But when looks down at his arm, at the same point on his skin where he had touched Felicity’s arm, is the number.

_1,489,830,533._

The number of heartbeats he’s experienced until that moment last night when his skin had finally made contact with the person he’s destined to be with.

It all makes a lot more sense now.

The pull he’s felt back to the city for around three years. (Felicity has been in the city for three years). The way he was immediately drawn towards her when he saw her last night. The instinct he had to protect her when he saw her with Chase and his intrigue in her story that seemed far deeper than the mere fact that it’s unusual.

The presence of this on his skin and the fact that the algorithm matched Felicity to Ray is only more evidence that The Society is not what it says it is. Human emotion, especially love, cannot be dictated by science and math. Humans are complex and messy beings who do not fit into the laws they constructed so many years ago.

It’s more proof that his mission is important. The work that he and the others are doing to bring down this corrupt place could change so many lives for the better and it only makes him more determined. Plus the thought of getting Felicity out of here…

Now that’s an appeal.

Ignoring the headache that’s settled in between his temples, he forces himself off the floor and to change. He doesn’t use the machine that’s been in his room since forever, they didn’t have them at the front and he’s gotten used to the routine of showering and dressing himself. The idea of having a machine do it now is strange.

Once he’s dressed, he settles on the bed and pulls the communications application up on his panel. He’s not too sure how this is going to go but it’s the only idea he has right now. Hopefully, it will be a start.

_Hey Carter, it’s been too long. I’d love to meet up for a drink one night soon if you’re free? Oliver Queen._

Two minutes later, a chime alerts him that he has a reply.

_Hey man! I heard you were back in town! Meet at the old spot tonight at eight, I’d love to catch up._


	4. Chapter 4

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Felicity struggles to deal with the expectations on her and Oliver finally gets a lead for his mission.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I am so sorry for the wait for this chapter! There's a brief moment involving sick for anyone particularly squeamish but it's not particularly explicit at all! I hope you all enjoy!

“Felicity!”

The blonde jumps at the sound of her husband’s voice. Looking at the time on her computer, her eyes widen.

“Frack!” She calls under her breath and thrusts the satellite phone she’s working on into the drawer.

“Felicity?” Ray’s voice continues to call and she huffs loudly, looking down at her pajamas with a worrying glance. Not really suitable attire for three-thirty in the afternoon. She can’t however, make it to the bedroom to change without running into Ray seeing as she can hear his footsteps on the upstairs landing. Before she can figure out what she’s going to do, the back of the lock that keeps this room hidden from others lights up and the door opens, revealing Ray dressed in his work suit. His eyes widen as he takes in her appearance and he quickly steps inside, shutting the door behind him. She crosses her arms tightly across her chest, looking down briefly to ensure that her new mark isn’t visible to her husband.

“Before you start…” She tries but he just levels her with a look.

“We don’t have time right now, we have guests downstairs,” Ray tells her and Felicity frowns, shifting around awkwardly on her feet. She itches to reach up and fix her hair but she knows that she can’t chance revealing her new mark to him.

“Goodness Ray, you could have told me!” She huffs, settling into her hip as she looks at him incredulously but Ray merely looks at her, shaking his head.

“I did. I sent you three comms.” His voice is flat and obviously unimpressed and Felicity takes a deep breath, pulling her lips back between her teeth.

“Oh…” She comments awkwardly and Ray heaves a long sigh, shaking his head.

“What have you been doing all day?” He asks, looking around the room as if to spot what she’s been doing and Felicity shrugs, moving towards the door.

“I thought we didn’t have time right now?” She questions and he sighs, stepping in front of her.

“Felicity…”

She merely shakes her head and pushes in front of him to exit the room.

“I’ll be down in five minutes.” She tells him coldly and heads to their room.

She doesn’t have the energy to pick out something to wear, the only thing she tells the machine to do is give her long sleeves. The dress is too conservative, too mature for her usual taste but Felicity doesn’t dispute the computer’s choice, only checking that her new mark is not at all on show. The disappointment that she hadn’t got the satellite phone to work today weighs on her like a cloud over her head and she sighs heavily, looking in the mirror. Her head’s been feeling incredibly light all day, almost spacey, and it seems to be morphing into a headache. Forcing a polite smile on her face that merely comes across as incredibly fake, she shrugs her shoulders and heads downstairs.

“Ah Felicity, there you are.” Ray’s voice calls out and Felicity paints her smile on once more as she rounds the corner from the stairs to face their guests in the living room.

She’s not entirely sure who she was expecting, the two of them don’t generally receive many guests, but it certainly wasn’t the group of women dotted around the place. There’s six of them, wives of some of the most prominent figures in society. Elizabeth Kord, Isabel Wilson, Aimee Bowen, Amanda Claybourne, Moira Queen, and Rebecca Merlyn. Her husband is stood by the coffee table, a smile on his face as he looks over at her, but there’s a clear warning in his eyes as she approaches.

“Goodness, I’m terribly sorry. Time got away from me.” She comments as she walks over, stepping up next to Ray. He’s not exactly who she would choose for protection but he’s far better than the women around her.

“Felicity, it’s so lovely to see you, and looking so well.” Elizabeth Kord comments, smiling just as falsely as Felicity is as her eyes swoop across her figure. The constant judgment of her figure and her style is one of the things Felicity has always detested about this group of women. She’s always been one to believe that personal style should be a reflection of yourself, not the people you surround yourself with.

“Thank you.” She replies tersely, sitting on the arm of an armchair. The action earns her a warning look from Ray but she ignores him, shifting a little. “To what do my husband and I owe the pleasure of your visit?”

“Your husband invited us, dear.” Rebecca Merlyn smiles at her warmly from her seat on the armchair, the arm of which Felicity is perching on. She’s someone Felicity hasn’t interacted with all too much, she’s heard stories that the poor woman struggled to deal with the death of her son and rarely ventures out. The interactions Felicity has had with her, however, she’s always been the nicest of the group of women. She never defends Felicity against the other women who seem to be so determined to attack her, but she also never participates in it.

“He thought you might appreciate our expertise on a few things.” Amanda Claybourne informs her and Felicity cannot stop the way her eyes snap to Ray, frowning at him.

“I’m sorry, I’m not quite sure I understand.” She says softly, keeping her eyes on her husband but he keeps his face as a mask of passivity, not budging. Felicity heaves a sigh and looks back towards the women.

“We know that you’ve been struggling and know that you’re concentrating your focus on your duties, your husband figured that you might like our help in explaining the finer details of a few things.” Isabel huffs, obviously very tired of the conversation and Felicity blushes, shifting a little on the arm of the chair.

“Well, it’s very lovely for you all to offer your expertise but…”

“Oh, I think you misunderstand, dear. This isn’t an offer. Our husbands feel like this will be extremely beneficial for you.” Aimee Bowen states plainly, looking at her and Felicity freezes as the implication in her words finds meaning. This isn’t an offer, this is a demand, from the council themselves.

“Each of these wonderful women has been selected to help you with something different, darling. Over the next week, they’re going to share their expertise with you. Isn’t that kind?” Ray tells her, his hand landing on her shoulder in warning and Felicity takes a deep breath. She knows what she has to say and she swallows down the feeling of deep humiliation that is rising in her. This is incredibly patronizing. She’s a grown woman, not a child, and she doesn’t need tutelage in different ‘skills’.

“Very kind.” She bites through her clenched teeth and Ray squeezes her shoulder harshly, making her wince. She looks up at him and his expression is a clear warning. She feels like a scolded child and it’s incredibly embarrassing.

“You’ll start tomorrow with me, dear. We’ll be going over appearance. Although I must admit, your dress today is far more appropriate than many things I have seen you in so you may already be making progress.” Moira Queen tells her, looking her up and down with an almost approving look on her face. It makes Felicity feel sick to her stomach.

The most confusing thing about all of this is why now? Felicity has been in the Society for three years and, whilst these women have been making their comments about how she doesn’t belong for that entire time, none of them have been this forceful about offering their expertise. Now that she’s been denied her ability to work, they suddenly care more? It really doesn’t make any sense to Felicity at all.

“Don’t encourage her, Moira.” Isabel comments and Moira’s head snaps to the side as she looks at the other woman.

“Watch your tone, Isabel.”

Felicity blinks as she tries to block out their bickering. She really couldn’t care less, especially as her spacey head grows more and more lightheaded by the second. Closing her eyes for a moment, she freezes as her head immediately pulls up an image of her mystery soulmate.

What is going on with her?

She can feel Ray’s hand on her shoulder but the words of the women blur into background noise as she tries to keep her breathing in check as it starts to slow. A hand lands on her knee and she frowns, forcing her eyes open to see a very blurry looking Rebecca Merlyn, looking at her in concern.

“Are you alright, dear?” She asks and Felicity frowns, lifting a shaky hand to run over her face.

“Just a little light-headed.” Felicity manages to force out with a small, very fake smile that obviously does nothing to reassure the other woman.

“Have you eaten anything today?” Rebecca questions and Felicity nods, she had quite the plethora of snacks from the food fabricator she insisted Ray install in the corner of the lab. “Maybe we should leave you alone to get some rest.”

“Goodness Rebecca.” Isabel comments, obviously rolling her eyes, but Felicity can’t bring herself to really care as a sharp pain appears near her temple. An awful feeling rises in her and her hand flies up to her mouth.

“I’m terribly sorry, please excuse me.” She manages to force out before she rushes to the bathroom. Her knees cry out in pain as they slam against the hard tile of the floor but she barely has time to process it as she bends over the basin and unloads those aforementioned snacks.

Her limbs are shaking by the time she finishes, slumping against the walls of the bathroom. Her head has lessened to a dull ache and her heart is beating loudly in her head. She feels weak in a way she hasn’t since she suffered from a bad case of the flu in her childhood in the medically poor Outskirts. As she closes her eyes to try and cut out the harsh light of the bathroom lamp, the image of ‘Queen’s’ face appears once more.

Through her daze, she remembers reading something about being separated from your soulmate causing illness like symptoms. Could this be…?

“Are you alright? Everyone left.”

The sound of Ray’s voice makes her jump for the second time that afternoon and she frowns as she looks up at him, the harsh light of the bathroom turning the dull ache to a harsher pain.

“Yeah, I’m okay.” She manages to get out and Ray offers his hand to help her up off the floor. Taking it, she pulls herself to her feet, stumbling a little until she catches herself on the doorframe.

“Good, because if you’re feeling better, then maybe we can talk about what the hell that was back there?” He questions and Felicity frowns, running her hand over her face.

“No, not feeling that good yet.” She comments, trying to push past him but Ray shields the exit with his body, his hands gripping her shoulders.

“You know all those women tell their husbands _everything._ This is not going to end well for you if you keep behaving like that around them.” He tells her, looking at her reproachfully and Felicity huffs.

“Well maybe if you didn’t keep forcing me to interact with them…” She trails off, shunting her shoulders to force his hands off of her. She doesn’t know whether it’s feeling sick or something else that’s making them feel like they’re burning but it’s not a sensation she wants to continue experiencing.

“I’m trying to keep you alive here, Felicity.” Ray implores as she pushes past him and heads for the stairs.

“Well, in order to do that, I need my sanity.” She bites back over her shoulder and clutches the rail tightly as she climbs the stairs to head back to bed in an attempt to sleep off this awful feeling.

* * *

Oliver heads down the stairs, pulling his jacket over his shoulders as he gets ready to head out to meet Carter.

“Oliver is that you?” A voice calls as he reaches the hall and he freezes, sighing as he plasters a smile on and heads into the living room.

“Yeah Mom, it’s me.” He answers, stepping into the room to see her mother sat on the couch. His smile morphs into a real one when he sees who it is that’s with her.

“Oliver, look at you.” Rebecca Merlyn smiles, standing from her seat as he walks over the greet her. She wasn’t at the gala last night which surprised Oliver a little because he remembers his best friend’s mother always being quite the social butterfly.

“Mrs. Merlyn, it’s so good to see you again. How are you?” He asks, shaking her offered hand with a wide smile.

“I’m doing very well.” She tells him but Oliver can see that her smile doesn’t quite reach her eyes. Something is weighing on her and he looks over at his mother but she merely shakes her head, telling him with a look not to press on it.

“Are you going somewhere, dear?” Moira questions and Oliver smiles, taking a step back.

“Yes actually, I’m going to meet with Carter to catch up.” He explains and Moira smiles, nodding her head.

“Oh, how wonderful. Do tell him hello from me. Rebecca, you remember Carter Bowen from the boys’ year at school. Wonderful young man, very intelligent.” Moira comments and Oliver chuckles with a light roll of the eyes.

“I’m entirely sure Mom would have been very happy to have had Carter as a son instead.” He jokes but frowns as Rebecca reaches out, her hand clutching his wrist.

“Our children are our greatest gifts, Oliver, and we love them no matter what. You shouldn’t joke about things like that.” She tells him, her gaze very serious and Oliver offers her a warm smile. What he would give to be able to tell Rebecca that he knows Tommy is at the very least alive. He knows it would give her so much relief.

“Of course.” He opts for instead, knowing that he cannot share that information with her, no matter how much he wishes to. “I must be going. It was lovely to see you again Mrs. Merlyn.”

“You too, Oliver.” The older woman nods, releasing her grip on his wrist and Oliver smiles, stepping back again.

“Be safe, dear,” Moira calls as he heads towards the door and Oliver nods.

“Yes, Mother.” He replies, heading out and towards the shuttle stop.

It doesn’t take him long to reach the end of the line and jumping over the fence to the concealed entrance of the bar also seems far easier than it used to. The dive bar is somewhere they discovered as teenagers, one of the only places in the city that still sells alcohol in the same similar format as the rest of the outside world. The group of them used to sneak here once a week and when Carter suggested the ‘usual spot’ in his comm earlier, Oliver had immediately known what he meant.

The diver bar is just as dingy as Oliver remembers, the small tables crowded with sketchy looking characters and he forces the memories of nights spent with Tommy here to the back of his mind. He needs to concentrate on his mission now.

Heading to the bar, he orders a drink and begins to scan the room for the man he’s looking for.

“Carter Bowen.” He grins as he finally spots the man sat in one of the booths in the back corner of the bar. There are already a few empty glasses in front of him, indicating to Oliver that he’s been here for a while, and Oliver hopes that it might make him a little more susceptible to spilling the information that Oliver wants to know. The other man grins and rises from his seat, pulling Oliver in for a familiar hug.

“Oliver Queen, good to see you, man!” He greets and Oliver smiles as they separate, sliding into the other side of the booth.

“You too. How you been?” Oliver questions, going to take his jacket off before he remembers his new tattoo that will show with his t-shirt. He’s unsure Carter will even be able to see it in this dark lighting but he doesn’t want to take the risk.

“Oh you know, working hard. My wife recently had our second.” Carter tells him with a proud smile on his face and Oliver fakes one of his own.

“Congrats. Boy or a girl?” He questions politely, wanting to move past the awkward greeting section of this conversation.

“Boy.” Carter grins and Oliver has to force himself not to grimace at the relief in Carter’s tone. “His name’s Jackson.”

“Nice.” Oliver nods.

“How about you? What was the front like?” Carter asks, an almost glee like look in his eye. Oliver sighs, this is how many men of The Society look at the front. They are fascinated by the brutality without really considering the implications of that brutality.

“You know I’m not supposed to talk about that.” He states diplomatically and Carter chuckles, raising an eyebrow as he gestures to his surroundings.

“Oh come on, what’s a little sharing amongst old friends? I promise I won’t tell on you.” He smirks and Oliver bites the inside of his cheek. It’s not that he’s actually worried that Carter’s going to get him into trouble. He knows this is just morbid curiosity from a rich boy that doesn’t know what he’s talking about or asking for. The thing is, it’s practically impossible for Oliver to think about the front without being assaulted with memories, without hearing the screams or feeling the sting of Chase’s torture being inflicted on him day after day.

“I don’t think…” Oliver comments, taking a deep breath as he forces himself to gain control over his own mind.

“Oh come on Queen. Just one little detail. What’s Chase really like? As terrifying as they say?” Carter asks, that same smirk still there, and Oliver closes his eyes for a moment.

“Worse.” He comments as his eyes snap back open and Carter jumps a little, telling Oliver that there’s probably a rather dark look in his eyes right now. He can’t help that though. Chase is a monster and his expression conveys that.

“Really? Jesus.” Carter whistles lowly, looking at Oliver with a raised eyebrow. Oliver takes a deep breath, smiling at a server who passes them, looking at the two of them suspiciously. 

“Let’s just say that people who make it back from the front are very lucky to still be here.” He tells Carter lowly once the woman has walked away and Carter’s eyes widen.

“Well then…” He stutters out, reaching for his drink.

Oliver grabs his own as well, downing a good half of it and enjoying the burn of the alcohol as it glides down his throat.

“So, I heard you’re working in the mating department now.” He comments as he places his glass down and Carter smiles, adjusting a little in his seat. He’s obviously also grateful for the change in topic.

“Oh yeah, lot of fun up there. I’m glad that’s where Dad got me assigned, I think I might have done myself in if he’d put me in R&D or something. Don’t get me wrong, Palmer’s a genius, but I don’t think I could spend all my time with him.” Carter laughs and Oliver freezes a little at the mention of Palmer.

Thinking about Palmer makes him think about…

Nope, really _really_ not the time.

“I know what you mean. You enjoy it then?” Oliver chuckles and steers the conversation away as he forces the image of the gorgeous blonde to the back of his mind.

“Oh totally!” Carter grins, taking another sip of his drink and Oliver takes a deep breath.

“I remember them talking about it at school, it always seemed such a mystery.” He comments, trying to pull a little more out of him but Carter merely laughs, slamming his drink down on the table a little forcefully.

“Oliver Queen remembering school? We were lucky if you showed up!” He comments and Oliver smiles awkwardly.

“True, true.” He comments and shrugs his shoulders. It’s not as if Carter’s comment is untrue, it’s just that Oliver is really praying this meeting gets him at least a little bit of a lead but it doesn’t seem to be going his way right now.

“Nah man, I’m only joking. There’s a reason they keep everything under wraps up there.” Carter finally comments and Oliver tries to hide a smile, raising an eyebrow instead.

“Oh really?” He presses and Carter goes quiet, shifting a little uncomfortably in his seat. It’s obvious that this isn’t information he should be releasing but Oliver’s hoping that the empty glasses in front of him might help him to loosen his tongue.

“I probably shouldn’t be telling you this…” The other man comments, looking around the bar, but there’s no one near them and Oliver shrugs his shoulders, trying to appear as casual as he can.

“I told you about Chase.” He reminds Carter who nods and takes a deep breath.

“Okay listen, there are a few ways you can twist the algorithm, get it to do what people want it to.” He spills and Oliver frowns, leaning forward in his seat.

“For example…?” He presses, needing hard evidence to confirm his suspicions. If there’s corruption going on in the mating department, it’s not an accusation he can make on a half-baked story. Anything less than clear and hard evidence delivered to the rest of the world will just result in him being shipped off to the Outskirts.

Carter takes another deep breath and throws back the rest of his drink, wincing slightly before he goes on.

“For example, if my buddy’s son has got his eye on a particular young lady. He gives us some money, you can make it so the algorithm matches them. Similarly, if someone gets matched with someone their parents deem unsuitable, if they cash up, we can make the algorithm find them another mate.” Carter explains, talking with his hands, and Oliver frowns deeply. Of course, he’s unsurprised to find that there’s cash involved in this. If there’s anything he knows, it’s that the elite of The Society are the least likely to follow their own rules and their money and influence is the thing that keeps them living their lives as they once were.

“But I thought it was all scientific based? How do you manipulate it like that? Doesn’t it throw the entire balance off?” Oliver questions. He thinks back to what he knows about the algorithm, the very little they were told about it in school. Noah Kuttler, he invented it to remove the difficulty of finding a partner from life and he claimed that it would free up more time to be productive in other ways. But with what happened to Kuttler, Oliver is entirely unconvinced he would approve of this corruption of his work.

There’s a loud bang on the other side of the bar and they both look over to see a server blushing as she picks up the chair she knocked over. Oliver breathes a sigh of relief but when he looks back to Carter, his demeanor has changed completely, his shoulders stiff and his eyes darting around.

“I’m sorry. I’ve already told you too much.” Carter comments, looking around skittishly and Oliver frowns, trying to see if there’s anything, in particular, that’s spooked him but it appears that he’s just freaking out.

“Carter…” He tries but Carter frowns, standing up from his seat and reaching for his jacket.

“No, listen man. I won’t tell that you know as long as you don’t tell that I told you.” He tells Oliver who frowns but nods slowly.

“Yeah, I…”

“No, we are _dead_ if anyone finds out. Do you understand?” Carter insists, stepping closer to him and his eyes are wide. He looks legitimately terrified and Oliver frowns.

“Yeah, man, I get it.” He promises and Carter heaves a sigh of relief before he stumbles towards the door, throwing one last look at Oliver over his shoulder before he leaves the bar.

If Carter’s reaction is anything to go by, Oliver is going to have to be _very_ careful with this but it’s a lead, an actual, _legitimate_ lead.

Now he just needs to figure out how to follow up on it.

He’s going to need someone very good with computers.


	5. Chapter 5

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Felicity and Oliver have their first proper meeting and find out that there's something a little more to their connection than they initially thought.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I am SO sorry about how long it has taken me to write this. I ran into a major bout of writer's block with this story but I believe I'm back on track now and I'm very excited about what's to come! I hope you all enjoy this chapter. Kudos and comments are always greatly appreciated :)

“Felicity, dear? Are you alright?”

Felicity blinks as she tries to force the headache away.

She’s really not a fan of the side effects of this soulmate thing. She has not felt better since she was sick yesterday and yet, she’s still sat here in her bedroom, looking at her closet with Moira Queen talking through basically each and every item.

“Yes, I’m fine. Thank you. Just feeling a little off still after yesterday.” She covers quickly, sitting up straighter when she notices Moira’s raised eyebrow at her posture.

This just encapsulates absolutely everything she hates about the Society. She’s expected to sit up straight and make pleasantries with the other wives all whilst her husband is allowed to go into work and use his brain for the supposed greater good.

Whereas she’s stuck here talking about whether lace is an appropriate fabric for an afternoon tea.

The wives, and their husbands, all speak apologetically for granting Felicity freedom to work in the first place when she first returned to the Society, as if the ability to use her brain was a great disadvantage. It makes her feel as sick as this whole soulmate thing does.

Speaking off, she’d really appreciate her mind not conjuring up an image of her soulmate every time she closes her eyes. Don’t get her wrong, he’s not unattractive to look at but it’s just a reminder of the falsity of everything she’s surrounded by and her position as a squatting duck.

If anyone catches wind of it, they’re both dead.

“I think that might be enough for this morning. You’re obviously still very tired from your bout of illness yesterday so I shall leave you to rest.” Moira speaks with a kind smile as she begins to fold some of the clothes she laid out on Felicity’s bed.

Despite the feeling of elation that jolts through her at the thought of finally being done, Felicity does feel slightly bad. Moira is kind, even if she is the epitome of what a Society wife should be, and Felicity shouldn’t be rude when she’s been offered kindness from so few people within Starling.

“Thank you. I’m terribly sorry, I didn’t mean to be rude.” Felicity tells her as she stands from the bed and walks her towards the door.

“I know that it’s been hard for you. It was hard for us when the Society was first established as well. But you’ll find your place, I promise. I just wish that you would stay a little more positive.” The older woman tells her and Felicity takes a deep breath before a smile stretches across her face and she nods.

“Thank you for coming.”

She’s glad to reach the door. It’s hard, especially when she’s surrounded by these women who once knew the freedom that she’s known. It often feels like she wants to shake them, to ask why on earth they would allow something like this to happen.

But she can’t.

Something like that would land her directly in Commissioner Chase’s line of fire. She wouldn’t be given the chance to survive in the Outlands. She’s too risky.

Moira squeezes her shoulder before she leaves and Felicity shuts the door behind her with a relieved sigh. She is exhausted and it’s barely past noon.

One of the hardest things is knowing what to do with herself. If she’s not in the lab, Felicity feels useless. She can’t fill her days with picking dishware and redesigning the house, she’d drive herself up the wall. Nothing gives her the same thrill as getting her teeth into a complicated hack or figuring out how a piece of technology works and can be manipulated.

Ray’s position within the Society does allow them some comforts. The options open to them on the food fabricators within their house are vast and varied, they’re rich and the sweetness of the range of desserts at her fingertips is one of the only things capable of making Felicity smile anymore. When she had first arrived back in Starling, she had made herself sick gorging upon the sweet things that before had only existed in the deepest memories of her childhood.

She eats a slice of chocolate cake now and then reconfigures the machine before it can report her consumption back to the Tower. There are restrictions placed on sugar, due to the lack of ability to get such a delicacy through the plains where war rages outside of the Society, but Felicity’s nimble fingers have always been good at hiding her worst habits.

It’s a surprise to her when there’s a knock at the door but what’s even more surprising is the way that her body practically carries her there as if it has a need to be connected with whoever’s behind it.

“You.”

It’s not the most eloquent of responses but Felicity will be damned. She just found out that this man is her soulmate and now he’s standing in her front door with a damn charming smirk on his face. Plus, it doesn’t help that all her instincts are crying out to find out what it might be like to have those strong arms wrapped around her.

“Me.” He smirks and that smile…

“Remind me of your name again?” She asks, forcing herself to force the inappropriate thought that sprang into her mind at his arrival to the back of her head. She’s playing a game, she knows that she doesn’t know his first name.

“Oliver, Oliver Queen.” He reveals to her and Felicity doesn’t want to be accused of being a romantic but it’s as if her world focuses in on him in that moment.

_Oliver._

It suits him.

She likes it.

“Can I come in?” Oliver asks her and his voice sends a jolt through her. Fighting her instincts, she frowns and looks out into the square behind him. It’s basically deserted at this time but she still doesn’t want to be seen accepting a man she barely knows into her house. One can never be too wary of peeping housewives in top windows.

“Are you sure that’s a good idea?” She questions, looking up at him and forcing herself to not concentrate on his impressive stature and handsome appearance. She needs to survive so that she can complete this device and hopefully one day, be reunited with her mother.

This ‘soulmate’ stuff is only going to get her killed.

“Do you want to have this conversation in view of the entire square?”

Damn it, he’s actually got a point there.

“Get in. Quickly.” She tells him quietly and he smiles, stepping through the doorway. Felicity sighs heavily and shuts it behind him perhaps more aggressively than she needs to.

“Is your husband around?”

Oliver’s question shocks Felicity. She assumed he was here to talk about the elephant in the room, or she supposes, imprinted on their arms.

“You want to talk to Ray? Why?” She questions, furrowing her brow as she looks at him but he just shakes his head, his expression entirely unreadable.

“Nothing you want to know about, I promise. Not if you want to stay safe.” He adds at her dubious look with her raised eyebrow.

“I can handle myself, thank you very much. Is it tech-based?” Felicity presses, squaring her shoulders and standing up tall. She’s not going to let anyone intimidate her, not after everything she’s been through this week. Even if it is a ridiculously gorgeous Adonis of a man who happens to be her soulmate. No, _especially_ not then.

“Keep your voice down.” He hisses, looking around for microphones and Felicity shakes her head. She’s not an idiot, she’s had those things on a loop playing random snippets of her singing to herself whenever she’s home alone for years now. She doesn’t need random members of the Society up in her business, thank you very much.

“Come on, worrywart.” She snorts anyway and leads him upstairs. He looks at her dubiously but doesn’t seem at all surprised when she reveals the panel and unlocks the door to the lab. In fact, Oliver seems to regard the room with a wistful smile rather than the impressed gaze she was honestly hoping for. “Wait hang on, you knew this was here?”

“I put this room in. I used to live here, although it wasn’t a lab when I was here.” He explains and Felicity frowns as he turns to look back at her. He has this way of staring straight through her, as if he’s looking directly into her soul and she knows that it should chill her but inside, she just feels warm.

“Oh, a secret hideaway for your conquests?” Felicity questions smugly with a small smile. If he’s going to make her feel like she might set alit any moment, she can have her snark.

“No. it was a place for my wife and her soulmate to be with each other freely,” Oliver tells her and his voice is so plain and so matter-of-fact that it takes a moment for his words to truly register with Felicity.

“Oh.” She states before she blinks, looking up at him as she takes off the cardigan she’s been using to hide the mark. She doesn’t miss the way his eyes dance over her exposed flesh as if he’d love nothing more than to explore every inch of it but she does ignore it. “Wait, hang on, you’ve seen this before?”

It’s so strange to Felicity. This man is an absolute stranger, she knows practically nothing about him, but she feels safe with him. It’s as if her soul knows he would never hurt her, even if her brain hasn’t quite come to its conclusions yet. Oliver smiles warmly at her and nods, gesturing to the mark on her arm as he speaks again.

“Our housekeeper, she knows about them. She explained the whole concept to me years ago.” His voice is level but there’s a tenderness in his expression that wraps around Felicity like a warm blanket. She resists the urge to curl up in his arms.

“But you said your wife…” She starts, blinking to force herself to pay attention. It’s hard, knowing this is the man that she’s predestined to love. But also, he has the answers she needs and that requires concentration.

Oliver’s expression grows wistful once more and he looks around the room again. It’s clear that it holds a lot of memories for him.

“My wife, ex-wife technically… she had her mark before we married, her soulmate was my best friend but her family, they were already being so closely watched after her sister refused her match and ran away that she was scared.” He offers her as explanation and Felicity frowns.

There’s a lot to unpack in what he just said.

“So you just... what? Let them be together when you were married?” She asks, confused as to how that dynamic would even work and why Oliver would allow for that to happen. Felicity knows they’re both dead if Ray ever catches wind of this. They’d be in front of the Council before they could take a full breath.

“We were friends, very close ones at that, but we were never involved romantically. I saw what the two of them being kept apart did. She was always sick and he could never sleep, it was like their bodies were calling out for each other. I did the best I could to give them the moments together that they needed at the very least to stay healthy but it wasn’t easy when we were already under such scrutiny.”

Felicity can hear the pain in Oliver’s voice. She can tell this isn’t a story he shares lightly or with very many people and she truly appreciates that he’s sharing it now, even if it is a horrific warning tale for the two of them.

“What happened?” She asks softly, wanting to know how this ends, _needing_ to.

“We kept up the ruse to keep her safe but then we got careless. She accidentally mentioned to me that he was coming over in the kitchen one day and I told her that I’d stay out of the way to allow them to be together. When I returned home that day, I found our house filled with guards and the two of them had already been taken to the Outlands, dumped on a roadside somewhere. My punishment for aiding their crimes was my five years away at the front. For years, I didn’t know whether they made it safely to the Outlands, to the community there, whether they were alive.”

“But you do now?” Felicity presses once more, needing to know how he can just so calmly state this is in front of her. Surely that means that he knows that they’re alright?

“I’ve already told you too much.” He suddenly steps back, shaking his head as his eyes drat down to his feet. Immediately, Felicity can see his walls spring up around him and she sighs.

“Oh wow. So you’re just like one of those broody, hold things back kind of guys, huh?” She asks and his head flies up, his brow furrowing.

“Pardon?” He questions and Felicity smiles, lifting her arm once more.

“You’ve seen these things before?” She poses, gesturing to the number marked clearly on her arm.

“Yes.” Oliver nods, still not giving her an inch and Felicity resists the urge to roll her eyes.

“So you know what they mean? You know that I’m technically the one person in the entire world you’re supposed to be completely open and honest with, right?” She presses and Oliver sighs, his expression softening. He goes to step forward, almost as if he were reaching for her, before he obviously thinks better of it.

“I don’t trust easily. Not after… I’ve seen things, Felicity.” Oliver tells her and there’s an evident pain in both his expression and voice. Something within Felicity responds immediately to that and she finds herself searching for a way to make it better.

“Has anyone told you my story yet?” She asks calmly once she’s gotten her breathing under control and Oliver frowns, shaking his head. Felicity gestures to a stool and draws up her own, placing it a safe distance from his despite the urge to eliminate any space between them.

“I know that you’re from the Outlands,” Oliver tells her as he sits and Felicity smiles sadly.

“My maiden name was Kuttler,” Felicity tells him plainly and that has him sitting up straight. It always does.

“As in Noah Kuttler? The creator of the mate algorithm?” Oliver asks her, looking at her as if he’s seeing her in an entirely different light. Felicity fidgets under the scrutiny and takes a deep breath, preparing. She’s never told anyone this story in full. People in the Outlands don’t ask a lot of questions, everyone knows that everyone else has a past. That’s pretty much as far as it gets. Back here, it’s as if everyone just wants her to forget everything that’s happening to her but Oliver…

He seems genuinely intrigued.

It’s the encouraging expression on his face that gives her the strength to finish her deep breath and begin speaking.

“He was my father. By the time his own algorithm found his mate, he was in his early fifties whereas my mother was only twenty-one. She was beautiful, young, and within a year, they had me, but they were never in love. My dad, he knew that his algorithm was fallible, that the emotions it had been created to replace were irreplaceable. He tried to be as kind as possible to my mother but she… he once said that she only ever smiled around me. I think the guilt of watching her light dim was what killed him in the end.”

It's odd. To tell this story to someone else. It’s something she’s only ever really contemplated by herself. Felicity knows her mother to be an _incredibly_ loving woman and since moving to the Outlands, she’s been able to spread that love more firmly around to others but when Felicity was young, it was only ever bestowed upon the young girl. The bright, vibrant woman Felicity knows now is such a far cry from the shell she knew in her early childhood.

And then there’s the matter of her father. Noah Kuttler was always a deeply troubled man, Felicity understood that from the moment she knew what the words meant. It’s such a struggle in her mind to know that he was what caused her mother to be such a fraction of the woman she can be as well as the loving man she always knew. He taught her how to use a computer, to build one, to understand them better than she understands humans. No matter what, she can’t stop herself from still loving him and the thought of him still makes her so sad.

“I remember that. He um… he killed himself, didn’t he?” Oliver asks softly, looking at her sympathetically and Felicity manages a small smile to reassure him that she’s okay before she continues.

“Yes, and he blew up the server room to do it. I was seven. The Council, they saw it as a betrayal and to punish him posthumously, they drove my mom and I to the Outlands and left us there to die.”

That’s always been an easier part of the story to reconcile in her head. The Council… well, there’s a special place for them in Felicity’s mind and it’s been building since she was seven years old.

“I’ve seen the Outlands. How did you survive?” Oliver questions, a look of what seems to be amazement crossing his face.

“The Diggles. Their son, John, is the best man I’ve ever known. He found my mom and I practically starving at the side of the road. He took us back to their home and accepted us into his community, into his family. He’s a lawless but he does incredible work as…” Felicity cannot stop the smile that spreads across her face as she speaks of her friend. He’s truly one of her favorite people in the world and her family at this point. She misses him something awful.

“As a convener between the lawless and the Society.” Oliver interrupts and Felicity frowns, looking up to see a small smile on his face.

“Yes, how did you…?” She questions and Oliver’s smile only grows.

“I met John Diggle two years ago. He was the only lawless Chase didn’t have a shoot to kill order on.” He explains and Felicity raises an eyebrow. It seems it certainly is a small world when it comes to your soulmate.

“Delightful.” Felicity comments, her nose scrunching up. The more she learns of Chase, the less she wants to know more. 

“You’re right, about him being the best man. He’s the best man I’ve ever known as well. He’s the reason I know my friends are still alive.” Oliver tells her and Felicity can feel the tone shifting in the room. It’s lighter and as she smiles, she can feel her soul reaching out to Oliver across from her. It’s strange but nice.

“Wait, hang on. Five years ago? A man and a woman? Your wife was Dinah? And her soulmate was Jonas?” Felicity suddenly asks, her brain focusing in on his words and Oliver frowns, shaking his head.

“No, I… Dinah? _Jonas?”_ Oliver questions, looking at her as if she’s grown two heads and Felicity takes a deep breath, forcing herself to explain more logically.

“A couple my mom found on the way into the Outskirts five years ago. She dedicated her life to it after John saved us. They were very quiet about why they’d been exiled, I’m pretty sure they only ever spoke to John about it but they were nice, both of them were friendly. You could tell they’d been through some stuff, they were a very insular couple, but they were very grateful for the second chance the community had given them and were great contributors.” She tells him softly and watches as Oliver’s face goes from confusion to pain to a soft smile.

“Dinah… that was Laurel’s first name. She never went by it, she shared it with her mother.” He explains and Felicity frowns. She never really thought about it but she supposes the most people in the lawless community were probably using fake names.

“And Jonas? That wasn’t his real name either?” She questions, thinking of the kind man who would have done anything for the woman by his side. She remembers them as attached at the hip and she remembers thinking at the time that it was almost as if they were made for each other. Now she knows that they were.

“No. It’s my middle name. Tommy, he was the best friend I ever had.” Oliver tells her and Felicity smiles too.

“Dinah and Jonas never did seem to really fit them. You know how some names just fit people? Like you, you _look_ like an Oliver and Ray, he _definitely_ looks like a Ray. I don’t know whether I look like a Felicity, what do you think?” She questions, her mind flying off in its usual way. She catches herself before she launches into a full discussion of the etymology of her name and looks away sheepishly.

“Do you often do that? The only sort of relevant rambling thing?” He asks her but when Felicity looks at him, there’s a soft smile pulling at his lips.

“Oh, all the time, get used to it. Also, I feel a good soulmate wouldn’t point that out.” She teases and Oliver guffaws for a minute before a smile that makes her stomach flutter spreads across his face.

“I’m pretty sure that the point of soulmates is that we’re pre-destined to be together and therefore, I already am a good soulmate.” He pushes right back and Felicity grins before she straightens in her seat.

“I will be the judge of that, I think.” She nods determinedly and Oliver snorts, nodding his head.

“Okay.” He tells her and Felicity’s sure the soft chuckle that accompanies the small word is all she’d like to hear for the rest of her life. “There’s one thing I don’t understand about all of this.”

“Hmm?” She asks, a little distracted by the warm and fuzzy feeling that’s taken over his body since he stepped inside the house. It’s like a safe and warm shelter has been wrapped around them both.

“How did you end up back here?” Oliver asks her gently, genuine intrigue on his face, and Felicity takes a deep breath.

“The mate algorithm. Apparently, I was already in the system. When it produced the result that I was mated to Ray, he was offered the chance to reject me and be given a mateless Society deemed ‘worthy’, but he didn’t. He decided he wanted to marry me so they sent officers to the lawless community.” She tells him, swallowing as she thinks of what came next.

“Isn’t that a neutral zone?” Oliver questions and Felicity growls, nodding her head. In spite of everything that’s happened to her, nothing makes her angrier than the actions of the Omniscient that day.

“They killed two people on the way in, good people. They stormed in and held a gun to both my mother’s head and John’s. They told me that if I didn’t go with them there and then that they would shoot them both. John, he… he managed to get away from the officer who was holding him but in his attempt to keep my mother safe, he was shot in the shoulder. I promised to go immediately, I wasn’t going to let anyone else get hurt because of me.”

The memories of that day, watching the man who gave her and her mother everything get hurt because of her… it still haunts Felicity to this day. John sacrificed so much to help them and all of the others in the lawless community and the idea that he was almost killed trying to protect her hurts Felicity deeply.

“That was incredibly brave of you,” Oliver tells her, his eyes shining with what looks like pride as he gazes at her but Felicity shakes her head. This isn’t something that she should be praised for.

“No, it was just the right thing to do.” She states decisively and Oliver nods, a small smile spreading across his face. “We’re quite the pair, huh?”

“Seems that way.” Oliver chuckles as he reaches up to wipe a hand over his face. “Felicity…”

“It’s okay. We’ve been where we’ve been, seen what we’ve seen, and maybe someday, we can share those experiences with each other and learn to heal. All I need to know now is that you understand. That’s enough for me.” She tells him honestly and she watches as his face moves from harrowed to smiling.

It’s funny. This morning, she considered this soulmate thing to be entirely an inconvenience. She didn’t want to trouble it would bring, the pain it might put her and the ones she loves through. Now though, with Oliver sat across from her, smiling that smile that warms her from the inside out, she can’t imagine turning him away. She knows next to nothing about this man apart from the little he’s told her but she feels like anything would be worth it if she only gets to be with him.

Oliver stands, moving towards her and Felicity stands as well, compelled by something deep within her. His hand reaches out as it’s almost like slow motion.

Inch by inch, he reaches closer to her skin and she watches his hand like a hawk, simultaneously wanting to immediately close the distance and wishing this suspense could go on forever. Her body is calling out to him but nothing prepares them for the moment when his hand clasps her wrist gently.

All of a sudden, the room is filled with light as it bursts out from around them. Felicity’s eyes fly shut as she tries to shield herself from it and she ends up stumbling towards Oliver in surprise when even that doesn’t block the light. His arm bands around her waist to steady her and they stand there, taking in the brightness around them. Despite the uncomfortableness of the light on her eyes, Felicity’s soul feels as if it is singing. It’s as if, finally, all is right within her as she’s pressed against Oliver’s chest. Despite everything and all the pain that still surrounds them, she can feel their souls entwined deep within them and Felicity clings tight to Oliver as the light slowly begins to diminish until they are finally alone in the room once more.

“What… what was that?” She questions, breathing heavily as she looks up at Oliver. It’s not all as reassuring as she thought it would be. His brow is furrowed and it’s clear that this has confused him as much as it has her. “Have you not seen that before?”

“No. Never.” He tells her, his gaze softening as he looks down at her. His eyes roam over her face and Felicity finds herself revelling in his intense gaze.

Suddenly, something attracts his attention as his eyes flick downwards.

“Felicity!” He calls, his voice wary and Felicity frowns, following his gaze to her upper arm. Her eyes widen at the glowing numbers there, now a bright gold as she looks at them.

“Yours are doing it too.” She tells him as she looks over at him. She can see the number even through the fabric of his sweater.

Oliver’s arms fall away from around her and both their marks fade, Felicity’s back to its usual black and Oliver’s once again invisible through his sweater.

Felicity frowns and reaches up to place her hand on Oliver’s chest, her eyes trained on his arm and sure enough, the numbers light up once more.

“Well… that’s inconvenient.”


	6. Chapter 6

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The separation side-effects get too much for Oliver and Felicity, and Felicity reveals some findings that show she's far more involved in his mission to bring down The Society than Oliver would like.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> *slides out from beneath rock* hi? 
> 
> Okay, full disclosure, I lost the notebook that had my plan for this story in and every time I came to work on it, it just felt like all my ideas were nowhere near as good as my original plan for it so I've been neglecting it pretty badly. However, I found it the other day and to be honest, this chapter sort of wrote itself. I can only apologise for how ridiculously long it's been since I last updated but if anyone still cares, I sincerely hope you enjoy this chapter and please let me know in the comments if you do!

“I truly don’t know what to do, Mrs. Queen.”

Oliver frowns at the sound of the familiar voice as he makes his way downstairs. His concentration isn’t at its peak, he’s barely been sleeping and his body is reaching near exhaustion. He knows that he needs to find a way to get to Felicity or he will collapse at some point but with the watchful eyes of the Omniscient on them at all times, it’s a practically impossible task.

“Mr. Palmer?” Oliver questions as he steps into the living room, utterly surprised to find the Society official in conversation with his mother.

“Ah, a pleasure to see you, Mr. Queen. I hope you are doing well.” Ray tells him, a smile covering his features and Oliver frowns, nodding his head.

“Well enough. I wish the same to you. What brings you by this Sunday, Mr. Palmer?” Oliver questions as he steps fully into the room, ignoring the warning look from his mother. Despite Palmer’s position, Oliver still ranks above him, even as a relict, due to his father’s position.

Sunday afternoons are the one time within Society that husbands are deigned to be off work and spend time with their families. Oliver would have thought Palmer would be with Felicity, despite the innate feeling of rage inside him that sparks at the thought. According to Society, Felicity is not his, she’s Palmer’s.

“It’s my wife. She is sick.”

That gives Oliver pause.

The soulmate side effects. It seems that Felicity is feeling them too. She had seemed a little pale when Oliver first arrived the other day but she had seemed fine when he left. Oliver supposes that’s because she had been in his company but the idea of her suffering… it hurts Oliver deep within him.

“I was just telling Mr. Palmer that you’ve been ill as well, Oliver. I’m wondering if there’s something going around.” His mother speaks up, causing Oliver to frown. There’s no such thing as ‘something going around’ anymore. The advances in science and technology mean that there’s a cure for almost anything within the Society. The idea of being sick is far more temporary than it ever was.

But Oliver knows that there’s only one cure for what he and Felicity are facing. Something that’s completely forbidden under the Society’s rules.

“What are Mrs. Palmer’s symptoms?” Oliver questions as he sinks down into a seat.

“Vomiting, pretty much constantly actually. She rarely sleeps but when she does, she convulses as if her body is reaching out for something that is not there. Whenever I try to comfort her, however, she shirks away as if I’ve burned her. Her appetite is low and she’s often slow to respond as if she’s somewhere completely different in her mind. She’s also constantly cold, she won’t be without a sweater or a cardigan.” Ray explains and Oliver’s heart pangs with each piece of information, wanting nothing that to be able to rush across the square and gather Felicity into his arms. It’s heart-wrenching to know that his mere presence is what she needs but he can’t give her something so simple.

Her symptoms are also pretty much what Oliver’s experiencing but after his time at the front, this feels far less torturous. When you’ve been under the control of Chase, soulmate separation is apparently less agonizing. The hardest thing is how his heart cries out for her in the quiet moments when he’s alone.

“That sounds like Mr. Oliver’s symptoms.”

They all turn at the sound of Raisa’s voice to see the mateless woman stood in the doorway with a frown on her face.

“Sorry to interrupt.” She states but it’s clear that she’s not all that apologetic at all. “I make Mr. Oliver tea that helps. I can make some for Mrs. Palmer also.”

“I don’t really think that what my wife needs is tea.” Palmer frowns, looking between Moira and Raisa incredulously.

“It helped you, Oliver?” His mother asks and Oliver frowns. Truly, Raisa has made him no tea at all but she had found him vomiting in the bathroom this morning and told him that he needed to ‘go to her’. Raisa gives him a stern look now and Oliver cottons onto the fact that she has a plan, even if he has no idea what it is.

“Yes, it reduced my nausea considerably.” He manages to come up with and stops himself from sighing in relief when his mother looks back at Palmer with a raised eyebrow.

“I suppose it couldn’t hurt.” He relents and Raisa claps her hands together.

“Excellent. It will be ready tomorrow. I will need an accompaniment to your house though, Mr. Palmer. I am not allowed in alone.” Raisa tells them, looking over at the mated in the room with an expectant expression on her face. Oliver can tell that Ray is taken aback by her boldness but anyone who’s spent enough time in the Queen household knows that Raisa gets her way, no matter what.

“I have work,” Ray comments simply and Oliver resists the urge to growl. He can’t believe that the bastard seems to have such little compassion for the state his wife is in.

“And you know that I have that important meeting tomorrow, Raisa,” Moira explains and Raisa frowns.

“Oh no. Well, Mr. Oliver can take me.” The servant shrugs and Oliver startles for a moment, before realizing her plan and trying to school his expression to an unbothered look as internally, his heart jumps with anticipation.

“I’m not entirely sure that’s appropriate,” Ray comments, his frown deepening as he looks suspiciously over at Oliver who does his best to look innocent.

“You wish for your poor wife to suffer more, Mr. Palmer, because you are worried about one man? Mr. Oliver means no harm. I will make sure he stays downstairs, I promise.” Raisa demands in that voice that generally means she’s going to get what she’s after. Oliver’s very grateful for it right now because he has very little clue otherwise how he’s going to get himself to Felicity.

“Moira?” Ray questions, looking over to Oliver’s mother for support.

“I cannot see the harm in it. If you don’t mind Oliver, and you promise to stay downstairs?” Moira asks and Oliver hums, forcing himself to look as if he’s been checked out from the conversation.

“Of course.” He comments, what he hopes isn’t too quick. Ray looks slightly dubious but then Moira smiles at him, taking a deep breath as she stands. It brings a concrete end to the conversation and Oliver’s heart soars as he realizes that Raisa’s managed to convince Ray of it.

“There we are. Hopefully, Raisa’s tea will bring her some relief. Until tomorrow, just make sure that she at least drinks some water.” Moira instructs him and Ray nods.

“Thank you, Raisa. You too, Moira.” The man greets and Oliver bites his lip for a moment, looking between his mother and the tall man. He wonders if Ray might express some concerns that would stop the meeting on the way out, so he jumps forward to ensure they remain concrete plans.

“I’ll walk you out.” Oliver offers and Ray’s eyes widen in surprise but he nods, smiling at Moira once more before they head towards the door.

“Your housekeeper is rather odd,” Ray comments, just as Oliver pulls the large wooden door open and Oliver smiles innocently with a shrug.

“Raisa means no harm, she just hates to see others suffer.” He explains and Ray hums, a contemplative expression on his face.

“I suppose we can’t blame her for that.” He finally relents and Oliver nods.

“Exactly.”

Ray gives him a final nod and steps outside the house, looking up at it once more before he makes his way across the square and back into his own home. Oliver watches him with the door open just a crack, his heart wanting nothing more than to say ‘screw it’ and race across the square to his soulmate.

He knows he can help her but not being able to is pure agony.

* * *

Oliver sleeps fitfully again that night. However, instead of the usual nightmare of Chase’s face looming over him, his mind is filled with images of Felicity in pain and alone. What’s more agonizing to Oliver is to know that they’re true and that’s how she feels right now.

Raisa leaps into action once the house is empty. His father heads to work, Thea to school, and his mother to her meeting, and within twenty minutes, she’s ushering him out the door and across the square. For once, Oliver is grateful for the Society’s strict punctuality rules because it means no dawdlers or others that may view their behavior as suspicious.

He’s surprised as she leads him around to the back of the house he used to call home and his eyebrows skyrocket into his hairline as she types in a code that somehow unlocks the backdoor and grants them access into the spacious kitchen of the Palmer’s residence.

“We know our ways around these things, Mr. Oliver,” Raisa answers to his surprised look but that only makes Oliver more suspicious as his brow furrows.

“And who is we?” He questions but the only answer he gets is a smirk and Raisa lifting her finger to her lips. The housekeeper merely shakes her head and smiles at him, leaning in close to whisper.

“Go. She needs you.”

Oliver cannot deny the way that his body has been thrumming with the need to rush upstairs to her since they entered the house. He swears that from downstairs, he can already smell the scent of her sweet perfume and apple shampoo. He flies up the stairs, two at a time, without a cursory glance back at Raisa before he bursts through the door of the bedroom on pure instinct.

Sure enough, Felicity is there. She’s lying on the bed, curled in the fetal position and gently groaning with her arms crossed around her. Her blonde hair is a matted mess around her head and her small body seems so small like this, tiny in the cavernous sheets of the bed.

As he moves closer, he can see the sweat on her face and the tears running down her cheeks. Her face is unnaturally pale and she’s shaking, with cold or pain, it’s hard to know which. She jolts at the touch of his hands which reach for her before he can even fully think but she soon settles, her brow furrowing as she turns to look at him.

“Ol’ver?”

The bright light has filled the room once more but just like before, it’s not startling or worrisome to Oliver. It invites him in and urges him to draw closer to Felicity as she too pulls herself closer in their embrace.

“It’s alright, I’m here. I’ve got you.” He reassures her, shifting on the bed so that he can draw her small body fully into his lap and hold her as closely as his body urges him to.

“Hurts.” She whimpers and the soft sound pierces through Oliver like a shot. He pulls her impossibly closer, whispering to her as the light around them thrums before settling back into their marks, glowing like beacons from both of their arms.

“I know, darling. It’s alright. Everything’s going to be okay. I’ve got you.” He promises and, whilst his words are to make her feel better, he knows as he speaks them that they’re also true. He’s going to find a way to end this farce of a society, for them, for Thea, and for everyone. He needs her to be safe and he needs to be with her.

“Need you,” Felicity whispers into his skin and Oliver sighs as a content feeling settles in his stomach and his headache finally lifts.

“I know. I need you too.” He hums back into her hair, their limbs entangled in every possible way as they cling to each other as tightly as humanly possible.

As Oliver holds Felicity, his cheek pressing against the silk of her blonde curls, he feels himself settle. The sickness he’s been feeling over the past few days not only clears but he feels everything within him settle. It’s not only that he no longer feels ill, he feels better than he ever has before. His constantly racing mind clears until all he can think about is Felicity and the way in which his heart beats solely in time with hers. All he can concentrate is the softness of her skin beneath his fingers and how all he wants to do for the rest of his life is to hold her just like this.

That would be his utopic world.

“Mr. Oliver?”

Oliver couldn’t say how long they sit there, clinging to each other as their bodies finally settle from the turmoil that their separation has caused. It could’ve been seconds or hours with how content his heart feels but when Raisa’s voice cuts through the silence, Felicity startles in his arms and through their bond, Oliver can feel her fear spike as she begins to scramble to get away from him.

“Shh, it’s alright. We’re safe.” Oliver promises as he reaches for her, drawing her back towards him gently. Felicity stares at him, the fear evident in her eyes but Oliver does his best to look at her reassuringly as well as sending positivity through their bond in an attempt to calm. She settles in a few seconds, it clearly having worked, and leans weakly into him as she turns to look at Raisa with trepidation written on her face.

“It is alright, sweet girl. I know of the blessed. You are safe with me.” Raisa tells her gently, approaching them slowly. She’s holding a mug in her hand and Oliver guesses that the tea wasn’t fully a cover after all.

“The blessed?” Felicity questions, her voice ragged as she speaks, clearly still suffering from the separation induced sickness. Her color has almost fully returned to her, however, and she nuzzles her nose into Oliver’s shoulder in a way that makes his heart skip, it’s so adorable.

“It’s what the Russian for what we are translates into. Soulmates, the destined, there are lots of names for it.” Oliver offers as an explanation, his voice just as a quiet and gentle and Felicity hums in understanding.

“Here. Drink this. It’ll make you feel better.” Raisa offers, handing the mug over to Felicity. She takes it but sends a dubious look over at Oliver. It’s clear that she doesn’t quite trust all this and he tries his best to reassure her once more, sending calming thoughts through their bond.

“It’s safe. I promise.” He tells her, hoping that she knows he’s actually incapable of lying to her. His words seem to reassure her nonetheless and she takes a sip of the tea, her free hand winding around Oliver’s arm like a vine as she presses her body against him.

“Hmm, it’s nice. Thank you.” She smiles warmly at Raisa who practically lights up, smiling back at Felicity.

“We need to work something out. You two cannot go on like this.” The housekeeper tells them, looking between them with a soft but stern smile.

“Hmm, no thank you. The past days have not been fun.” Felicity mumbles, her head lolling against Oliver’s shoulder in an involuntary move, judging from the way she stills for a moment as if surprised at her actions before cuddling closer.

“Someone’s going to notice us sneaking back and forth constantly and there’s not exactly anywhere we can go where we won’t be noticed.” Oliver worries, his frown deepening as his teeth worry his bottom lip. A feeling of reassurance washes over him the next second and Oliver frowns, looking down to see Felicity looking up at him worriedly. He realizes she must have sent it through their bond and he sighs, his arm wrapping tighter around her back.

“The lab here?” Felicity suggests and Oliver frowns. It’s certainly safe but…

“I still have to get in here.” He reminds her, feeling his heart sink in time with her shoulders slumping.

“I’ll give you the code for the back door. You have to be careful.” Raisa tells him and Oliver frowns, thinking it through. The alternative is Felicity continuing to be as sick as she was when he arrived earlier and well, that’s not an option for Oliver.

“Okay.”

It’s risky but what’s risker is the two of them going on as sick as they have been. That’s going to be far more noticeable in the long run than him finding a way to see her each day.

“Good. You two need each other.” Raisa tells them with a nod, reaching over to pat Oliver’s leg before she stands. “Stay for a while. I will clean downstairs.”

“Oh, you don’t have to…” Felicity immediately frowns, going to stand but Raisa waves her off.

“Nonsense, sweet girl. You stay.” The housekeeper instructs and Felicity frowns, slumping back against Oliver who chuckles, watching Raisa leave the room before he turns and presses a kiss to the top of Felicity’s head.

They both freeze for a moment, the move having been purely instinctive on Oliver’s part, but Oliver feels a wave of satisfaction wash over him and he thinks Felicity must to by the way she settles back into him.

They sit there for a while, the two of them just reveling in the feeling of each other. It’s strange to Oliver; he hardly knows Felicity and yet, it’s as if he knows everything about her. He’s so in tune with her, what she wants, needs, and all of her other emotions, that it’s baffling to think he only knows the small details of her life that she’s disclosed to him already.

“Oh! I have something you’ll want to see!” Felicity suddenly proclaims after a while, standing from the bed. As he loses contact with her, Oliver feels his body roar in protest and he stands to follow on pure instinct, as if he’s magnetized to her.

“Felicity?” Oliver frowns, the worry rising in him at how quickly she’s moving down the corridor after seeing how sick she was less than an hour ago. “Sweetheart, please slow down, you’re still not one hundred percent.”

He speaks before he even realizes, the term of endearment slipping out as well, but Felicity merely throws a cursory glance over her shoulder with a smirk. “Worrywart. I’m fine. Come on!”

She leads him into the room she’s turned into a computer lab and straight over to her main monitor. Oliver watches with a frown as she boots them up and pulls something up, turning to face him and gesturing her arms towards the screen in a ‘ta-da’ kind of motion. “What is…?”

“So I was curious as to why you wanted to talk to Ray so I hacked into your panel and I found out that you’d contacted Carter Bowen.” She states simply and Oliver freezes. He can feel her frustration through the bond and sure enough, when he turns from the screen to look at her, she’s stood with her arms crossed and eyebrow raised.

“We’re old school mates.” Oliver stumbles and it’s extremely weak sounding as an excuse. Every inch of his body screams in protest as he attempts to lie but it’s futile anyway as Felicity scoffs and rolls her eyes.

“But you haven’t contacted anyone else since you’ve been back. You were digging around in the mating department.” She states clearly and confidently, forcing Oliver to take a deep breath in to process his thoughts.

There’s a huge part of him that’s glad she’s figured it out, the innate part of him that he supposes has a lot to do with their connection is glad that the secret between them is gone. The more logical part of him, however, is screaming. This is the part that has been shaped by his five years at the front, years under Chase’s control wherein he learned that the safest way to be is alone. 

“Felicity…” He starts but she merely holds up a hand and Oliver freezes, surprised at the power she clearly holds over him.

“Am I wrong?” She questions and Oliver’s shoulder’s slump in defeat, knowing there’s no way to dissuade her now.

“No.”

“Thought so.” Oliver blinks in confusion as her hard exterior melts suddenly and she bounces on her toes back over to the monitor. It’s an extremely fast switch from stern to utterly adorable and it gives Oliver whiplash. “So, I did a little digging myself. Getting past the security protocols of the Tower was hard, especially when I was feeling so woozy. Let me tell you, hacking is a lot harder when you can’t concentrate on the screen.”

Oliver can’t help but smirk as she babbles off-topic. There’s something innately sweet about the way she seems to struggle to stay on her point and every time she does it, he learns something new about her so he can’t say that he’s really complaining.

“Felicity…”

“Right! Here’s where things get interesting.” She blinks before opening a file on the monitor and stepping back to let Oliver take a look.

Oliver steps forward and immediately frowns at what he’s looking at. He can tell that it’s a series of files, a lot of them, but as to what all the coding underneath them means, he’s utterly clueless. “You’re going to have to tell me what I’m looking at here.”

Felicity smiles gently at him, her shoulder brushing against his as she steps up to him and gestures to a single line of code that seems to appear again and again across the folder. “This code is a corruption code and it’s been used on every single file for the past five years.”

“Wait, are you telling me…?” Oliver freezes, trying to process what she’s just told him.

“None of the matches made in the last five years have been true. They’ve all been tampered with in one way or another.” Felicity confirms plainly and Oliver blinks. He suspected that this was an issue but he never could’ve expected it on this scale with such clear evidence. 

“Carter said that people were paying to ‘twist’ the algorithm. I didn’t realize it was this bad though.” Oliver thinks aloud, leaning in closer and scrolling to see that Felicity is right. Ever file for the last five years has the same corruption code attached to it.

“People are being wrongly marked as mateless too,” Felicity tells him with trepidation in her voice and Oliver lets out a long, low whistle, leaning back from the screen as he turns to look at her with a serious expression.

“The entire Society is being built on a lie,” Oliver states plainly for the first time, allowing the gravity of the words to hit him. This is huge and the fact that they’ve got the evidence to prove it is incredible.

“On corruption,” Felicity confirms and hearing her voice makes it sink into Oliver’s brain that she did this. She found the corruption and has handed him the evidence he needs.

_Of course, it was her all along. She was the key._

“I can’t believe you worked this out. You’re a genius!” Oliver exclaims and acting purely on instinct, he reaches out and cups her face, drawing her towards him to kiss her.

As Oliver’s lips slide against Felicity’s, the room around them melts away until there is only the two of them and the feeling of each other. The connection buried deep within them, which has been screaming at them over the past few days and thrumming since they’ve been in each other’s presence, glows the same golden color as the light that once more bursts from them to encompass their figures. Oliver somehow feels both utterly calm and as if every inch of his skin is alight, only capable of being put out by Felicity’s touch and kiss.

They stay wrapped in each other for a long moment, until the need for air becomes too much and they stumble apart. Oliver feels utterly content and his body is fully relaxed, as if it has finally been given the last clue it needed to let go. He can feel through the bond that Felicity feels the exact same and they both gulp in air to steady their breathing once more.

“So, um, what’s the plan?” Felicity questions after a long moment, turning back to the monitor and Oliver’s brow furrows for a moment, his brain still clouded in euphoria.

“Plan?” He questions and Felicity sighs, looking between him and the computer pointedly.

“You must have a plan, you wouldn’t have been looking into it unless you did.”

Her words finally register and Oliver frowns, understanding that they are clearly on vastly different pages about this. “ _I_ have a plan but it’s not one I’m involving you in.”

“What do you mean?” Felicity questions and something within him bristles as she turns to glare at him. It’s a frankly terrifying expression for such a small woman and Oliver can feel that power she has over him rearing its head once more. He shakes his head, forcing his logical side to prevail over the innate. 

“Sweetheart, this is dangerous stuff. I’m not having you get hurt because of me.” He tells her determinedly, shaking his head as he goes to look at the monitor once more.

He’s stopped, however, by Felicity darting in front of him and pressing a sharp finger into his chest as she stares up at him without an inch of fear or worry in her eyes.

“That’s a really nice sentiment, Oliver, but I’m not some delicate little flower you can pick up and put down when you want to play.” She states harshly and Oliver feels their connection roar in protest at the disagreement. He blinks as he forces himself to contemplate her words, rather than blindly listening to the ancient force that connects them.

“I wasn’t… I didn’t… Felicity, I don’t know what I’d do if you got hurt because of me.” He explains, keeping his voice level even as every inch of his heart is telling him to find somewhere to hide her and keep her there until she’s safe.

“I can look after myself,” Felicity explains, far more softly as her finger relaxes and she places her hand tenderly against his chest. Her tense shoulders relax and she tilts her head as she looks at him, trying to convince him with her eyes.

“That I do not doubt but that doesn’t mean you should be walking into danger you don’t need to be involved in.” Oliver shakes his head, blinking to force his logical side to win over the innate part of him that’s telling him to hold her close and keep her by his side forever.

Felicity’s shoulders fully slump at that, regarding him tenderly before she takes a deep breath. “Unfortunately for you, someone else has already involved me.”

“What do you mean?” Oliver frowns, his confusion rearing at her words and he keeps his eyes locked on her as she turns to the computer and pulls something up.

“Look.”

Oliver frowns but turns back to look at the computer. She’s opened the single file with a different corruption code attached to it with a date from three years ago. His eyes widen as he looks over the documents inside and he realizes that she’s right.

This is Felicity’s file and it makes one thing very clear. She’s been a part of this whole mess for far longer than Oliver has.


	7. Chapter 7

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Oliver finds out how Felicity is entangled in the Society's mess and everything starts to unravel before them.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Long time, no see. I feel like I am always apologising for how long these updates take and I can only apologise again for that! This story takes a lot out of me and I have to be in the right headspace. I really hope you all enjoy this update and please let me know if you do by leaving a kudos/comment. 
> 
> Oh also, please don't kill me for the ending of this chapter? 'kay, thanks, love you all.

_“That I do not doubt but that doesn’t mean you should be walking into danger you don’t need to be involved in.” Oliver shakes his head, blinking to force his logical side to win over the innate part of him that’s telling him to hold her close and keep her by his side forever._

_Felicity’s shoulders fully slump at that, regarding him tenderly before she takes a deep breath. “Unfortunately for you, someone else has already involved me.”_

_“What do you mean?” Oliver frowns, his confusion rearing at her words and he keeps his eyes locked on her as she turns to the computer and pulls something up._

_“Look.”_

_Oliver frowns but turns back to look at the computer. She’s opened the single file with a different corruption code attached to it with a date from three years ago. His eyes widen as he looks over the documents inside and he realizes that she’s right._

_This is Felicity’s file and it makes one thing very clear. She’s been a part of this whole mess for far longer than Oliver has._

* * *

Felicity watches impatiently as Oliver’s eyes scan over the computer screen rapidly, taking in the information again and again. She can feel his confusion through the bond but the more he reads, the more it intertwines with something else. It’s deep and powerful and incredibly strong…

Rage.

Deeply intense and formidable rage. Through the bond, it’s hot and red and Felicity tries her best to calm him but due to her own anger that’s bubbling underneath her skin, she’s not particularly successful.

The file had been encoded when she found it, behind far more layers of encryption than the others. It had taken everything she had but she finally broke through the protection to reveal what the Society has on.

Turns out, it’s everything.

The file contains picture upon picture of her in the Outlands. They’ve been watching her since she and her mother arrived there and the file tells a story, taking her from a small and terrified seven-year-old to the jaded and world-weary sixteen-year-old she was when she was dragged back into Starling. There are photos of her with her mother, working on computers, laughing with John, even welcoming Jonas and Dinah ( _sorry, Tommy and Laurel)_ into their community.

The Society had eyes on her the entire time.

However, the photos aren’t alone. Documentation tracks what exactly Felicity was doing for those nine years, what she was learning, and her level of intellect until it reaches the minutes of a meeting that took place when she was fifteen.

Felicity watches as Oliver opens the minutes, his eyes following as the Council made the decision that changed her life forever. She can feel his rage grow deeper and hotter until it feels like he might bubble over as he learns how her marriage to Ray is all just a Society plot to take her away from the side of the Lawless and use her to their own advantage.

She’s just a pawn in a far bigger game. One she wasn’t even aware she was playing.

“I mean the thing I don’t really understand in it all is why I’m so important. I’m just me.” Felicity comments awkwardly once Oliver finishes reading. He frowns, turning to look at her with a baffled expression and his confusion passes through to Felicity as he blinks and shakes his head.

“Just…? Felicity, if there’s one thing this shows, it’s that there’s no _just_ about you in any way, shape, or form. You’re powerful and you’ve got one of the most powerful groups of people in the world terrified. You had them terrified as a fifteen-year-old.”

Felicity sighs. The minutes blew her mind when she found them. Reading them had explained so much about what’s happened since she returned to Starling, but they’ve also given her so many more questions.

Her marriage to Ray was a tactical one. The Council had known he wouldn’t be able to stop Felicity from helping with all his projects but that he was also scared enough of the Society’s power to not broadcast it too loudly. Everything she thought she and Ray were doing under the Council’s noses, they’d known about, and it makes Felicity’s heart sink to know that she’s just been used by them.

To find out that you’re just a pawn to a Society that subjugates and oppresses when you thought you were secretly beating them is extremely disheartening. All of her little self-rebellions haven’t been rebellions at all but a tactically planned effort by the Society.

It makes her feel sick.

The one thing she cannot wrap her head around, however, is why they’ve stopped her from working all of a sudden. If her intellect and technological advances have been so useful to them over the past three years, she cannot work out why they’re now trying to squish her under their thumbs and mold her into the perfect society wife.

Why all the visits from the other wives? Why stop her working as Ray’s ‘assistant’? Why the sudden push to force her to conceive?

“There’s a lot about this that doesn’t make any sense.” Oliver continues when Felicity doesn’t answer him and she nods, taking a deep breath.

“I agree. I don’t know how all of this pieces together. There are some serious blanks.” Felicity sighs, staring at the screen as if she can will it to give her more answers. “But this is something no? We can use this?”

“Of course we can. It’s everything. This proves the Society isn’t what it claims to be. This is what the Lawless have been waiting for.” Oliver confirms with a nod, turning to look at her with a gentle smile.

“So we just need to find a way to get it to them.” She sparks, remembering what else she’s been working on now that her brain is fully cleared from the separation fog that had hold of it.

“I’m still not sure you should be getting too heavily involved in this, Felicity. This is serious stuff.” Oliver bemoans once more but Felicity just rolls her eyes, pushing past him to get to where she needs to.

“No. I’m done being a pawn in their game. I’m done letting someone else dictate my life for me. I am my own person and I should get to choose how my life goes.” Felicity comments bitterly as she reaches into her secret drawer and pulls out her project.

“What is that?” Oliver questions, looking between her and the object in her hand with a clueless expression.

“A satellite phone. I’ve been trying to use it to contact the Lawless… specifically John and my mother.” Felicity explains, moving to her workstation. Oliver follows quickly behind her, watching with a curious expression.

“Does it work?” He asks and Felicity bats him away as he leans into her personal space to look at it. She feels slightly guilty as he pouts a little and sends a very light apology through their bond that has him smiling once more.

“I was very close to getting it to until _you_ showed up and made my body incapable of performing normally.” She states, throwing him a mock glare, and Oliver just grins awkwardly, shrugging his shoulders.

“Sorry about that.” He smiles sheepishly and Felicity feels her heart restrict a little in tender affection. She has no idea how someone can worm their way into her whole being so quickly but it’s as if Oliver has taken root in every single one of her cells. He’s as much a part of her as she is of him.

“But if I can get it working and we can get through to them then maybe they can help us explain why the sudden crackdown,” Felicity explains, reaching across Oliver to grab some of her tools. They both sigh as her arm grazes his stomach, a little of the tension leaving their shoulders, but Felicity just blinks, continuing what she’s doing. She’ll admit it’s nice to just have his presence near her.

“What do you mean?” Oliver questions and Felicity frowns, setting her things down and turning to him.

“Well, you’ve got to admit it’s a little strange. They pull me back from working with Ray and developing technology that’s shaped the Society for years the same day they bring you back from the Front where I’m assuming they knew you were working with the Lawless? That can’t be a coincidence.”

Felicity frowns as she finally speaks what’s been niggling at the back of her mind aloud. After all that those files revealed, she truly cannot see how that could be a coincidence. It’s clear that the Council and the Society as a whole have been controlling their lives in a far more intense way than either of them were aware of.

“You think they know I was working with the Lawless?” Oliver questions, his brow furrowing as he clearly thinks through what she’s said.

“If I’ve learned anything from looking at these files, it’s that they know a lot more about all of us than we thought they did,” Felicity states bitterly and watches as Oliver stays frozen for a moment, that baffled expression still on his face. She can feel his confusion through the bond as well and he finally shakes his head and looks at her.

“ _You_ know I was working with the Lawless?”

Felicity scoffs with a roll of her eyes, sending him an amused smirk. “You respect John, you’re trying to find a way to bring down the Society? You’re not as complex as you think you are, Oliver Queen.”

Oliver blinks for a long moment before he shakes his head again, his lips curving into a small smile. “I think I’m learning you’re far more so than I first knew.”

“Forever the tone of surprise,” Felicity comments with a small smirk and a preening shift of her shoulders. They share a brief smile, the weight of the situation lifting for just a moment. For a brief second, they’re just two soulmates, learning each other and their bond deepening with each second in each other’s company.

But then Felicity’s elbow nudges her tweezers and they’re brought back down into the reality of the situation.

“Do you want me to go?” Oliver asks as she turns back to work and Felicity panics for a second at the thought of him leaving. Her body screams no to her and Felicity winces.

“No. I need you to sit right there and let me finish this without my body deciding it misses you.” She tells him decisively, shuddering at the thought of returning to the almost catatonic state she’s been in for the past few days.

“Right. Do you need help or…?” He questions, still hovering very closely.

Felicity sighs, closing her eyes for a moment to collect herself. His extreme proximity is making her body react in a way she’s entirely unused to and it is _not_ exactly helping her be productive. “I need you to be quiet so that I can concentrate.”

Oliver blushes and nods, sending a soft apology through their bond as he pulls away and rounds the desk. Felicity takes a deep breath and gets back to work, examining the wiring with a frown.

“What’s that?”

Felicity sighs as she stops after just a moment, looking up to see Oliver gesturing to the piece of workout equipment stored in the corner of the room. She briefly notes that it tracks for Oliver and Jonas… _Tommy…_ to have been friends. Tommy used to be like this when she was working in the Outlands too.

Oliver’s pointing to one of Ray’s small rebellions against the Society. Light exercise is permitted at Society sanctioned gyms for the men and in the home for women but nothing at this level if you are not enlisted in the army. Felicity knows it’s to stop people becoming strong enough to be a threat but the Omniscient claim it’s due to intellect being more important than physical strength.

“Salmon ladder. Ray likes to use it to stay fit.” She explains quickly, wanting to get back to work, but the way Oliver approaches it with intrigue stops her. She can feel a playful manner coming through their bond and that catches her attention.

“You okay if I’m over here?” He asks her as he stands underneath the bar, looking at her with a raised eyebrow.

“Uh-huh.” Felicity nods, feeling extremely well and not at all as ill as she was earlier when separated from him.

“And the noise won’t bother you?” He questions further and Felicity shakes her head with a long swallow.

“Nope. I’m used to it with Ray.” She explains, feeling a spike of what she thinks might be jealousy through the bond. It’s as deep and hot as his anger earlier but with more of a jaded aspect to it.

“Excellent,” Oliver smirks and Felicity feels her jaw drop as he quickly pulls his t-shirt over his head and leaps up to grasp the bar, hanging off the first rung as if he could stay there all day.

Felicity tries to continue working, fixing the wiring from her last attempt as best she can, but the clang of the salmon ladder is far more distracting than it usually is when Ray is on it. Oliver is tackling the monstrous-looking piece of equipment with ease, moving up and down the rungs as if it’s not bothering him at all. The only sign of the workout is the light sheen of sweat that starts to cover his bare chest, lingering on his impeccably sculpted abs.

Swallowing thickly, she forces herself to concentrate on the phone in front of her, despite the image of his naked skin looping in her brain even without her eyes on him.

Finally, after around twenty minutes, the clanging stops and Oliver jumps down from the ladder, making his way over to her. Felicity can feel amusement through the bond and her cheeks flush bright red as he sidles up behind her.

“You a little distracted there?” Oliver questions, his voice right next to her ear sending a shudder down Felicity’s spine. She’s never had a reaction like this before and suddenly the room feels entirely too hot and her clothes entirely too tight.

“No.” She coughs out, swallowing thickly again as Oliver chuckles, leaning forward to brush his nose over her neck and send her body into overdrive.

She can only assume that’s his intention anyway.

“You forget I can feel your emotions.” He whispers lowly and Felicity huffs, stepping away from him with a glare as she turns to face him.

“Screw you.” She states with narrowed eyes, holding his gaze for a long moment before her anger morphs into amusement and the both of them break into wide smiles.

Oliver smiles in the sweetest way, tugging her closer by her waist until their inches apart. Felicity’s hands reach out to stabilize herself, resting on his chest. She blinks awkwardly, taking a deep breath as she stares up at him, her body feeling hot all over again.

“Hi.” Oliver smiles, chuckling as she swallows thickly.

“You’re sweaty.” Felicity comments, the words tumbling out of her mouth before she can stop them.

“Sorry.”

“No, I like it.” She replies, smiling up at him. Oliver chuckles, staring down at her for a long moment before he loosens his grip on her.

“How are you doing?” He asks, gesturing to the phone and Felicity smiles, turning back to her work.

“Well I think I just need to… and then… booyah!” Felicity grins, thrusting her fist into the air as the phone lets out a loud beep. 

“You did it?” Oliver questions, looking at her with an impressed expression on his face and she can feel his pride filtering through the bond.

“I did it!” Felicity confirms, bouncing on her toes in excitement. This has been her task for so long and finally completing it feels so good.

“You’re a freaking genius,” Oliver tells her, pulling her towards him once more and not hesitating for a second as he pulls her into a kiss. Felicity freezes in shock for a moment before she relaxes into the kiss, curving her body into his chest as he deepens it. She groans as her hands slide up his bare chest to wrap around his neck and pull him impossibly closer. Her body is somehow both entirely calm and on fire. She wants nothing more to find any way to be closer to Oliver, to fuse their bodies together in any way that she can.

The two of them are so wrapped up in the kiss and each other that they don’t hear the kerfuffle outside the door. Raisa’s panicked voice calling out “Mr. Oliver! Miss Felicity!” doesn’t reach their ears the door banging open and Ray’s incredulous cry certainly does.

“WHAT IS GOING ON IN HERE?”

The two of them break apart at the sound of her husband’s scream and Felicity’s eyes blow wide in shock as her body screams out to be reunited with Oliver.

“Ray! Oh my… it’s not what it looks like!” She cries in instinctive response, her heart contorting in fear at the pure rage she can see written all over Ray’s face. Oliver’s emotions transmitting through the bond are all over the place and she can’t get a tell on them, apart from a similar anger radiating.

“Oh really? Because it looks like you were shirtlessly kissing my wife!” Ray cries, addressing Oliver and completely ignoring Felicity.

“Okay well that was what was happening but…” Felicity starts to explain but she jumps as Ray screams loudly, moving towards Oliver with an almost murderous intent in his eyes.

“How dare you? You come into my house under false pretenses. You gave me your word that you would remain downstairs whilst your housekeeper gave my wife _soup!_ This certainly doesn’t look like soup!”

Ray is almost inches from Oliver’s face as he yells. Felicity is terrified, she has _never_ seen her husband act like this before. She sees Ray as a calm and gentle person but he’s anything but right now.

Oliver, however, is calm and collected. He’s staring at a spot just past Ray’s shoulder and Felicity can tell this seems to be an instinctive reaction. She tries to reach him through their bond but she can tell that he’s forcing his mind to be blank, to not feel anything at all. She frowns for a moment until she realizes that this is probably a coping mechanism left over from the front and his time with Chase and that thought has her heart breaking as she stares at him.

“Mr. Palmer, Sir. You do not understand. They are the _blessed.”_ Raisa pleads, moving towards them and Ray frowns, stepping back and looking between the housekeeper and Felicity with a frown.

“The what?”

“The blessed. We’re soulmates.” Felicity explains with a long sigh, knowing Ray is not going to take well to this concept.

“Soulmates? Please. There’s no such thing.” Ray scoffs, rolling his eyes and sending a dirty look to Raisa. Felicity feels a spark of anger and it takes a moment for her to realize that it’s coming from Oliver.

“Ray, there is. Please just listen to me.” She implores but he just rolls his eyes again, moving towards her.

“Felicity. You know how the world works, it functions on science and math, things that you and I understand. Science and math are the only explanation, it’s what made you and I a match.” Ray tells her, looming over her. Felicity watches out the corner of her eye as Oliver grabs his t-shirt and pulls it back on.

He makes his way towards them, leveling Ray with a cautious face, but as the other man comes to the end of his sentence, he scoffs loudly.

“What is he making that noise for?” Ray questions, looking from Oliver back to Felicity with a frown.

“You’re not exactly right.” She winces and Ray’s eyebrows furrow as he stares at her.

“What do you mean?”

“She means you’re a fool who’s been used by the Council as tiny piece in their huge chess game. We all have. And you’re idiotic enough to believe that they’re still good and right and they should allow you to push down a spirit and intellect as incredible as Felicity’s to fit their perfect view of what a woman should be.”

Oliver’s voice is so different than she’s used to hearing it. He’s always soft spoken with her, tender even, and when she’s heard him with others, it’s harsher but nowhere near brash. This is anger, this is rage, and the only time she’s heard it come similar is when he recused her from Chase that first night they met.

“Oliver…” She starts, placing a hand on his arm in an attempt to calm him. It works a little, she can feel so through the bond, but it clearly angers Ray.

“He’s just as complicit in this as the rest of them!” Oliver frowns as he whirls around to look at her.

“How dare you? I have done nothing but look after my wife since the day we were married. It is my responsibility as her husband and it is one I take extremely seriously!” Ray counters, pushing on Oliver’s shoulder to bring his attention back to him.

“Oh yeah? That’s why you’ve allowed them to try and suck every last piece of individuality out of her?” Oliver questions and Felicity feels his anger grow as he steps up towards Ray once more. Felicity knows Ray’s constant reminders of their marriage is something that is cutting Oliver deep and it angers her to know that Ray knows how much that reminder would hurt.

She and Ray are not married in any usual sense. They’ve always maintained a platonic relationship.

“Alright, can we all just calm down for a minute? Neither of you knows the full story.” Felicity sighs as she worms her way between the two of them. She places a hand on either man’s chest and pushes them apart, glaring at them both. The two hold a tense eye contact for a long moment before they step back, relenting to her. “Good. Oliver, go downstairs with Raisa. We’ll be down in a few minutes.”

“I’m not leaving you alone with him!” Oliver frowns, looking between her and Ray with an astonished look.

“You haven’t been here the past three years, Oliver. I can look after myself.” Felicity assures him, giving Ray her back as she turns fully to her soulmate, calming him as she runs her hands over his chest and sends as much calm as she can through the bond.

“But I…” Oliver starts, his shoulders slumping, but Felicity just shakes her head, reaching up to run her fingers over the light stubble on his chin.

“Please, for me?” She presses and smiles as Oliver’s shoulders finally drop and he nods. He glares at Ray as he steps away from Felicity and moves to Raisa’s side.

“Come, Mr. Oliver. We will wait in the kitchen.” Raisa comments and Felicity sends her a grateful smile as she tugs him towards the door.

“If I find out you laid even a finger on her in anger…” Oliver seemingly can’t resist adding as he continues to glare at Ray.

“Go!” Felicity urges, even though her heart wrenches painfully the minute Raisa tugs him out the door and he leaves her sight.

“Felicity, what the hell is going on?” Ray questions as he rounds on her and Felicity takes a deep breath, wondering where the hell she should start.

“Why don’t you have a seat?”

Ray settles on one of the stools and Felicity mirrors, leaving a good few feet between them. She can feel Oliver freaking out and tries to calm him best she can as her stomach flutters nervously at the thought of telling Ray what’s been going on.

She tells him the whole story. She starts by explaining the concept of soulmates and how she and Oliver found each other. She tells him how the power cut at the gala was a result of their first touch and that her sickness over the past few days has been a side effect of being separated from him. She also tells him of what she’s found after hacking into the Society’s servers and her concerns with the matches being untrue. She talks of how their marriage has been a tactical move on behalf of the Society and how the Omniscient have been controlling their lives far more than they knew.

She spills everything to him and he just sits there. He listens, he doesn’t interrupt, but when she finishes, his brow furrows and he scoffs in disbelief.

“So, you’re telling me that there’s some secret ancient force that connects people who are meant for each other and a magical tattoo appears when they find each other? Do you realize how insane that makes you sound?” He questions, raising an eyebrow. She knows that this was always going to be hard for him to understand; he has every bit of her logical and tactical side with none of her imagination. 

“Ray, look. I’m not joking.” Felicity counters, holding out her arm to show him her tattoo which is a dull black color due to being apart from Oliver.

“Okay… so say I do believe you… What are you going to do? Take down the whole Society just the two of you? Felicity, that’s insane.” Ray questions, shaking his head at her.

“I have no concept of what’s sane or not anymore.” Felicity scoffs and Ray levels her with a look in retaliation. She takes a deep breath, looking towards the computer where the files are still open and she gestures towards them with her hand as she feels her anger spike again. “Ray, you have to admit, this is wrong.”

“There must be some reasonable explanation for this all. One that doesn’t incriminate our leaders.” Ray comments as he stands and approaches the computers.

Felicity scoffs, rolling her eyes. She knew that Ray believes in the Society and trusts the Omniscient, but she didn’t realize how much. “You can’t be serious.”

“Felicity, you don’t need to worry. I can look into this. You need to concentrate on staying safe and doing your duty.” He tells her as he turns around, staring at her plainly.

His words spike anger in her once more and she too stands from her stall, approaching him with fire dancing in her eyes. “Oh? Bow and scrape at your feet like a perfect little Society wife? You know, I am so sorry, Ray, that you didn’t get your perfect little doll of a wife that only speaks when she’s spoken to and would have already popped out four of your kids by now. But that is not me, and it will _never_ be me. You can all try as hard as you’d like but it won’t happen. I won’t let it.”

Her voice gets louder as she grows more and more irate. She never thought Ray wanted her to be a silent little housewife but the past month has shown her that he respects her far less than she thought he did.

“I am just trying to keep you safe. Do you know what they’d do to you if they found all of this?” Ray sighs, gesturing to the room around them and Felicity huffs.

“I don’t care! Can’t you see that?” She screams, feeling frustrated as she just cannot get through to him. She stares at him in disbelief as he moves towards the door. Her anger is clouding her mind so badly that she doesn’t notice the way Ray uses the panel to open the door and slips halfway out until he speaks again.

“You can stay here or go to our room but I will be seeing your _beau_ out.”

“Ray, no…” Felicity panics, rushing forward but Ray smashes his fist into the panel, sending the glass flying everywhere, and steps through the door. The sound of it closing ricochets around the room and Felicity screams as she realizes he’s just locked her in.

“He’s got _something_ into your head. I just know it.” Ray calls through the closed door and she then hears his footsteps echoing down the hall outside.

“This isn’t _him._ Ray, I… You can’t leave me in here! Ray!” Felicity screams, falling to the floor by the door in the mess of broken glass. A few of the shards press into her skin but the pain is nothing compared to the feeling in her heart as she screams until her throat can’t anymore.

* * *

Oliver freezes as a sudden pain stabs through his chest. He’s been pacing ever since he and Raisa came down the stairs, trying to gauge what’s happening upstairs through Felicity’s emotions. She’s mostly been extremely angry which isn’t surprising but the sudden pain terrifies him. He can feel her and he wants nothing more than to rush up the stairs and be with her but Raisa’s hand on his arm stops him as the sound of footsteps on the stairs reveals Palmer.

“You can both leave. I won’t be reporting this for her sake, but I swear to the Council, if I hear that you have even thought about seeing her again, you will be back in Commissioner Chase’s clutches faster than you can scream ‘soulmate’.” Palmer comments bitterly, lingering on his stairs like some form of socialite delinquent. He stares Oliver down, clearly thinking he has all the power here, and seeing as Oliver’s terrified for Felicity, he may be right.

“Palmer, you can’t do this. She needs me to be with her, it’s what was making her so sick.” Oliver implores, trying to appeal to the man’s reasonable side, but it appears any connection he and Palmer had has been ground into dust.

“I know what _my wife_ needs, Queen, and it certainly isn’t you. Leave before I call the authorities.” Palmer states simply, gesturing to the door and Oliver’s heart clenches at the thought of leaving Felicity when she’s still in so much pain.

“Palmer, please, just let me say goodbye.” Oliver tries, his pain derived from that he feels from Felicity’s driving him. It’s Palmer who caused her that pain and no matter how much she says Oliver doesn’t know the whole story, the innate part of him that’s connected to her is screaming at the thought of leaving her here with him.

“And let you get in her head some more? Do I look like a fool to you, Queen?” Palmer scoffs, rolling his eyes and gesturing to the door.

“She’s in pain, I can feel it!” Oliver cries, craning his head as if he might be able to see through the ceiling and walls. “Felicity!”

“She’ll be _fine_ and I, as her husband, will see to it if she is not. I won’t ask again nicely.” Palmer bites, stepping off the stairs and forcing Oliver back.

“Come, Mr. Oliver. She will be in far more pain if he calls the Council.” Raisa implores, tugging on his arm and Oliver freezes, looking at her in disbelief. She stares at him, her eyes begging and Oliver sighs.

“Listen to your housekeeper, Queen.” Palmer states and Oliver sighs, his shoulders slumping.

“Just… look after her? Please?” Oliver begs, every inch of his body screaming to do the opposite, to run up the stairs and grab her. Every fiber of his being is yelling at him to hold her and never let her go but he knows it’s not that simple here. He needs to do this properly and for now, that means leaving her, no matter how much it pains them both to do so.

“Of course I will, she’s _my wife.”_

Palmer’s words stab Oliver through the chest and he turns, stepping up to the pathetic man and grabbing him by the shirt. “That means jackshit in this hellhole and you know it, Palmer. You can threaten me all you like, but you better know that I have no fear about myself getting hurt. I’ve been through hell and back and I came out the other side stronger for it. But if I find out that one hair on Felicity’s head has been harmed and you had _anything_ to do with it, I will find you and I will tear you limb from limb. Do you understand me?” Palmer’s eyes blow wide and he nods, fear written all over his place. It makes Oliver scoff and he throws him back with far more force than necessary. “Good.”

He turns on his heel, following Raisa to the door. Every step he takes feels like his legs are iron and the heaviest weights are looped around his ankles. He forces himself to remember that he has to act logically now so that he can let his heart guide him later.

That doesn’t make it hurt any less though.

As he steps through the door and his heart aches as the pain from Felicity’s side of the bond continues to resonate through him, he forces himself to breathe and send a message as strong as he can through their connection.

_I love you. Stay strong, stay brave. We can weather this._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hope you are all keeping safe and well during these trying times. A huge thank you to essential workers and those unable to stay home. Times are hard for everyone right now. Stay safe, stay home if you can, and wash your hands. Sending love and strength to you wherever you may be <3


	8. Chapter 8

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Oliver and Felicity deal with separation sickness before a breakthrough inspires hope and then a lot of fear.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> TRIGGER WARNING: Please pay attention to the updated tags. This chapter includes a lot of angst, implications of torture, and depictions of violence bordering on explicit. 
> 
> I hope you and yours are healthy, safe, and as well as you can be. Please let me know if you like the chapter by leaving a kudos and/or comment and please don't hate me for the end of the chapter :)

The next few days pass in a blur of sickness and worry.

Oliver struggles to concentrate more and more with each day that passes. He barely makes it through an hour before he’s hunched over the toilet basin, being sick as his stomach and heart clenches in pain. The separation sickness blurs his mind and all he can do is focus on the connection he has with Felicity.

He can’t feel too much through it, apart from the fact that she too is in pain, but just the feeling of her on the other side is enough to get him out of bed each day and force himself through the day. He’s barely doing anything, running the odd job for his parents and trying to figure out how he might be able to get back to Felicity, but that’s a good thing seeing as his brain is fogged with pain.

Raisa does all she can to help him and she’s a godsend in convincing his parents that he’s okay. She manages to invent a story wherein sickness has not been eliminated at the front (which is technically true) and convinces them he must have picked something up just before he left that is only now manifesting itself. Oliver’s just glad neither of them are doctors or paid much attention in biology at school because they buy it pretty easily.

Thea is more dubious of his story but seeing as she’s at school for most of the day and their mother has her preparing most afternoons and evenings as her sixteenth birthday approaches, Oliver doesn’t see her all that much.

Then, four days after Oliver forced himself to walk out of the Palmer residence, Raisa sneaks into his bedroom.

“Raisa? What’s going on?” Oliver frowns as he sits up from where he was lying on the bed. The housekeeper just holds a finger to her lips then points up at the microphone in the corner of the room.

That only makes Oliver’s frown deepen. He knows that their conversation is being monitored, he wasn’t about to say something dumb and reveal themselves, but then Raisa confuses him even more by gesturing for him to pull it out the wall.

“What?” He asks and Raisa sighs, simply motioning again.

Oliver shakes his head as he furrows his brow but stands on the chair in the corner to yank the wire out the wall. He hands it over to Raisa, who places it on the floor and crushes it underneath the heel of her shoe.

“You know they’re just going to send someone out to replace that and we’ll have to explain why it’s broken.” Oliver tells her once they’re safe and Raisa just levels him with a look.

“Then we place it back like that and say we don’t know what happened. They won’t question it with who your father is.” The housekeeper tells him simply and Oliver goes to question her more but she reveals an envelope from behind her back before he can.

“From Miss Felicity.” She tells him with a small smile and Oliver’s eyes widen, reaching out to grasp it quickly from her hands. There’s no writing on the outside but as he touches it, it’s as if he can feel her presence on it as well. It calms him and unclouds his brain a little.

“How?” He finds himself questioning but Raisa just smiles, tapping the side of her nose.

“The Mateless don’t reveal their secrets, Mr Oliver.” She smirks before she gives him a smile and slips out the room, leaving him alone with Felicity’s package.

Oliver takes a deep breath, holding the envelope tightly as he sits down on the end of the bed. He can feel something bulky inside and he takes his time unsealing it.

Turning it upside down into his lap, the small satellite phone Felicity was working on the other day tumbles out along with a small data stick. Finally, a small piece of paper flitters out and it is that which Oliver picks up first to see both sides covered in writing.

The first side he sees seems to be instructions to do something on his computer, complete with lines of code to secure his connection and an address to send whatever information is on the data stick out to. He turns the paper over, wondering if there’s more an explanation there, to see a note in Felicity’s loopy handwriting. He traces his fingers over the ink for a moment, the image of her in the lab writing away appearing in his mind and he takes a deep breath as he allows it to calm him.

_Oliver,_

_I won’t tell you not to worry. I know there’s always a need to worry in this place and with the nature of our connection, I think we’re predisposed to worry about each other._

_But I am okay._

_The separation sickness is pretty awful but thinking of you and forcing myself to concentrate on working helps me through. And working is what this is about, even though I also want you to know that I miss you and wish I could be with you._

_I’ve included the satellite phone and a data stick in the envelope. There are instructions on the back of this sheet. Call the number, you should get through to Jonas, or Tommy, whatever you want to call him. The other instructions are for you to send the information on the manipulation in the mating department to him and the Lawless. They should then be able to pass that onto people who can do something about it._

_Be safe, don’t let anyone see this (I’d recommend burning it actually), and hold onto the phone and data stick. The last thing we need is to get found it._

_Hopefully, this will work, and we can be together and be free soon,_

_Felicity <3 _

Oliver takes a deep breath, unable to concentrate on anything other than the heart she’s drawn next to her name and the message of hope. It’s exactly what he needs right now, to have that hope and inspiration, and he lets that fill him up.

As he thinks, however, the thought of Tommy being at the end of that satellite phone both excites and terrifies Oliver. He hasn’t spoken to his best friend in over five years. When the three of them were found out, Tommy and Laurel had already been whisked away to the Outlands by the time Oliver arrived at him. He hadn’t even known that they made it to the Lawless community until last week when Felicity revealed she’d met them. To have the opportunity to speak to him again, especially as it brings the opportunity to take down the corrupt Society they live in, is something Oliver never thought he’d had.

Felicity really has changed everything in his life.

Taking a deep breath, he reaches for the phone and flips the paper over to reveal the number, as well as the accompanying instructions of how to use the outdated piece of technology. Felicity’s instructions are clear and easy to follow and soon enough, Oliver is hearing the voice of his childhood best friend for the first time in five years.

“Hello? Felicity, is that you?”

Tommy’s voice makes Oliver gasp. Even though he knew in his head that he would hear him, the reality of doing so is something else entirely. To hear his best friend’s voice filled with so much life when he hadn’t been sure if he was even breathing for so long is such a blessing.

“Not Felicity. Hi Tommy, it’s Oliver.” Oliver manages to tell him shakily after a deep breath and he hears Tommy gasp loudly.

“Ollie? Oh my god! Is that really you?” His best friend asks, disbelief and amazement evident in his voice and Oliver swallows thickly, feeling very much the same as Tommy sounds.

“Y-yeah. It’s me.” 

Tommy lets out a small, disbelieving chuckle, and it makes Oliver grin too. “Hi, buddy.” He states and Oliver gasps. Hearing Tommy address him as he always did takes him right back to who they were when they were kids.

So naïve, so unaware of the danger of the world around them…

It’s a nice call back but a loaded one. It’s a reminder that nothing is the same as it once was and they’re just about to change it all over again.

“Oh my… I can’t believe I’m talking to you.” Oliver breathes deeply, swallowing thickly as he blinks to try and force back the tears that are pooling in his eyes.

“We were expecting Felicity, not going to lie.” Tommy comments, a similar level of emotion clear to hear in his voice, but his words bring Oliver back down to reality, remembering exactly why he has this opportunity.

“She… she did it. She made the phone but she’s in sort of a tough spot right now.” Oliver explains, wincing as he thinks of the mess that he and Felicity are in right now. It terrifies him, to think that she might not come out of this unscathed, but he’s going to do all that he can to make sure that’s not the case.

“Ollie, you can’t let her get hurt.” Tommy tells him with a fervour that Oliver agrees with. He knows that The Council and the Omniscient know how important Felicity is and he knows that if they get a whiff of what’s going on in the Outlands, she will be the first place they’ll turn to as a bargaining chip.

“I won’t, I can’t, she… Tommy, she’s my soulmate.” Oliver admits with a deep breath. He knows that Tommy will know how much that affects things.

“Oh.” Tommy comments after a long pause and Oliver winces. He can hear his thought process in that one small syllable and he takes a deep breath as the tension passes down through the static-y connection. “Well that complicates things.”

“Tell me about it.” Oliver responds with a small snort.

“Wait, how are you apart from her if you’re…” Tommy trails off and Oliver winces, knowing that he’s remembering all those days when they had conspired to sneak him into the house because he and Laurel were so sick. If anyone, Tommy knows how awful separation sickness can be.

“We’re not doing well, I… after Chase, I can concentrate through a lot but it’s bad.” Oliver explains and he closes his eyes for a long moment as his head thumps with almost perfect timing.

“John has been discussing with foreign governments. We’re so close to gaining their support to take down The Society but we need more concrete evidence.” Tommy explains to him and Oliver forces himself to concentrate through the haze in his brain.

If John has been speaking to governments and they’re also on board, that means they’re close to finally breaking this apart.

And all they need is concrete evidence to prove the corruption…

“Felicity can help with that. She’s found something, something _huge._ I just need to figure out how to get it to you.” Oliver explains as he looks down at the note, trying to discern what she’s telling him to do.

“You have it now?” Tommy questions with hope sounding through his voice.

“Yeah, hang on, there’s instructions here from her. I’m going to put you down but don’t go anywhere.” Oliver tells him and frowns, reaching for his laptop to start up the process.

It takes him a while. Felicity’s instructions are straight forward but computers are so not his thing. He follows what she says word for word and finally, he manages to send the information through the secure link she set up.

“Tommy? That should’ve gone through.” Oliver tells his friend as he picks back up the phone and he hears scrambling on the other end of the phone.

“Oh my god. John!” Tommy finally calls after a long moment and Oliver settles back onto the bed, listening to the activity through the phone.

“What?” The voice of Oliver’s other friend and accomplish sounds and Oliver takes a deep breath, forcing himself to concentrate. He knows that this is it, he’s just loaded the gun for John, Tommy, and the other Lawless to pull the trigger and the excitement that rises in him at the thought is unprecedented.

“Look at this.”

“Oh my god. This is exactly what we’ve been waiting for.”

“What does this mean?”

“It means we set the plan in motion. Monday.”

“That’s three days away!”

“We need to move fast, before the Omniscient find out that we know.”

Oliver frowns as he listens in, trying to make hind or tail of what Tommy and John are discussing. Monday? What do they mean by moving in? Could they really pull everything together that quickly?

“Oliver?” Tommy suddenly asks and he blinks, readjusting the phone to place the microphone back next to his mouth.

“I’m still here.” He confirms and he hears Tommy breathe a sigh of relief.

“We’re moving in on Monday, the strikes of the bell to end the working day.” His best friend tells him and Oliver furrows his brow.

“What does that mean?” He questions, wanting to know what their plan is or at least whether this is _it._

“I can’t say much else. Anyone you want to keep safe, get them to the bunker in your house with Raisa. She’ll know what’s going on.” Tommy explains but that just makes Oliver frown deeper.

“Raisa? There’s a bunker in my house?” He questions, baffled at both concepts. Raisa is aware of soulmates, sure, but he thought that was where her connection to the outside world started and ended.

“This hasn’t been a short fight, Ollie.” Tommy answers ominously and Oliver takes a deep breath, nodding his head. He knows that this is what the Lawless have been waiting for. It’s taken them years to get foreign governments to even hear what they’re saying and without concrete proof, any concept of aid past help for the Lawless to survive has been practically unheard of.

This will change everything.

“I… the end of the working day on Monday?” Oliver clarifies, wanting to make sure he’s got it clear in his mind, which is still struggling to concentrate as a result of the separation sickness.

“Yes. Ollie, you get Felicity to that bunker, okay? She _needs_ to be safe.” Tommy tells him vehemently and Oliver nods his head.

“I know. I’ll make sure she’s there.” He promises and hears a distinct sigh of relief from Tommy.

“Jonas? Who are you talking to?”

A new voice sounds and Oliver frowns, trying to place it but failing.

“Donna!” Tommy exclaims and Oliver’s eyes widen. Of all the Lawless to walk into the room…

“Is that…?”

“No, but he might be the next best thing.”

“What do you mean?”

“He’s Felicity’s soulmate.”

Oliver’s eyes widen as Tommy confirms what he suspected. He’s talking to Felicity’s mother. The one person who has always looked out for her, the person she’s been hoping this phone would reach. He feels awful that he is the one with the chance to hear her voice when it is Felicity who has put in all the work and has longed for the opportunity for so long.

“So…soulmate? My baby is one of the blessed?” He hears Donna ask but Tommy doesn’t reply. All Oliver hears is the crackle as the phone is clearly passed over.

“Mrs Kuttler?” He chances after a long pause and he gains a very loud gasp in return. It’s clearly feminine and Oliver takes a deep breath; this certainly isn’t how one envisions meeting their soulmate’s parents.

“Oh, most people call me Smoak now, but Donna’s fine too.” She speaks and Oliver smiles. She has a tone so similar to Felicity’s and he can hear the frown in her voice that also reminds him of when Felicity gets off topic.

“Okay, Donna. Hi, I’m Oliver Queen. I’m your daughter’s soulmate.” He introduces himself with a small smile on his face. He’s proud to say he’s Felicity’s soulmate. She’s incredible, both at what she does and just as a human in general. To be able to say that he is fated to be with someone so incredible is something that inspires a great deal of pride within him.

“My baby? Is she okay?” Donna gasps and Oliver can hear how emotional she is. His heart aches for the woman, who had to send her sixteen year old daughter back into the place that crushed her own spirit so severely. He cannot imagine what that must have been like.

_Is she okay?_

Oliver’s not sure how to answer that. He doesn’t want to worry the mother but he also can’t lie to her, so he tries another route. “She’s going to be. I’ll make sure of it.”

“You look after yourself too, young man, and I hope to meet you very soon.” Donna tells him and Oliver feels himself getting extremely emotional at the thought.

They’re really getting there. They’re going to be able to reunite Donna and Felicity. He’s going to get to see Tommy, Laurel, and John again. All of the Lawless will get to see their families again.

They’ve really done it. All thanks to Felicity and her genius.

“And I you, Donna.” Oliver tells her with a smile, swallowing thickly.

“Ollie?” Tommy questions as the phone gets handed back to him and Oliver takes a deep breath.

“Tommy.”

“Bells. Monday. Okay?” Tommy tells him and Oliver nods.

“Okay.”

There’s a long pause before the line goes dead and Oliver takes a deep breath. He’d have liked to say goodbye to Tommy properly but he supposes he’ll get the chance in a few days.

Monday.

They’re going to do this on Monday.

The Society and the power of the Omniscient and the Council will finally come crashing down on Monday.

It feels like a dream.

He can’t believe that this has all come down to Felicity and her genius. He knew she was incredible but this is something else entirely. She’s the entire reason that can free so many people from the oppression of the Society. That’s huge. He wants her to know that and he tries to send pride through the connection but he frowns as he tries only to feel nothing on her side.

It’s the first time he hasn’t felt her and it throws him for a loop. He’s scared that she’s not okay but he forces himself to breathe deeply and concentrate.

He balls the note up into his pocket where he places the phone and data stick as well before he wiggles the broken microphone back into place so that Raisa’s plan can go ahead.

He looks around the room, exactly the same as it always has been, and it throws him for a loop. The last ten minutes have changed everything and yet, here, nothing looks different at all.

Shaking his head, Oliver heads out of the room and downstairs to the kitchen where he hopes to find Raisa.

“Everything okay, sweetheart?” His mother asks him as he passes through the living room and Oliver levels her with his best attempt at a smile.

“Yeah, Mom. Everything’s fine.” He promises and she tilts her head to look at him discerningly. She’s clearly not too sure she believes him but she lets him go and Oliver is grateful as he heads through to where Raisa is cooking.

He opens the aga and throws the note in, letting it burn like Felicity instructed. It pains him a little to burn the small heart and her message full of affection but he knows it’s for them in the long run.

He waivers on his feet as he turns around and Raisa is on him like a shot, guiding his hand to the counter so that he leans against it.

“You are sick, Mr Oliver.” She tells him with a frown and Oliver takes a deep breath, feeling his brow start to sweat as a feeling of sickness overtakes him.

“I’ll be better very soon. Monday.” Oliver swallows thickly, staring straight at Raisa as he implores her with his eyes to understand what he is saying.

It takes her a moment but understanding registers in her eyes and she lowers her voice as she speaks again. “It’s happening?”

“Monday.” Oliver repeats and he watches as she takes a deep, shaking breath before she shakes her head.

“That girl of yours is a genius.” She comments quietly as she turns back to the pot on the stove and Oliver smirks.

“That she is.” He comments but frowns as he reaches out through the connection once again only to be met with darkness and emptiness.

“Are you alright, Mr Oliver?” Raisa questions as she looks back at him to see him wavering on his feet as his vision blurs badly and the nausea gets worse.

“I… I can’t feel her.” Oliver tells her with a frown and Raisa takes a deep breath, placing a stool underneath him and coercing him into sitting down.

“It is possible that she is blocking you.” Raisa explains and Oliver’s brow furrows deeper.

“She can do that?” He questions, not having realised that they could block each other at all. Not that he would have any reason to want to, but he’s realising there’s so much he doesn’t know about this soulmate thing. 

“If she is in so much pain that she cannot bear it, then yes. It is the only way to maintain the connection, to shut your soulmate out for the time being until you can be reunited, else the shared pain will be too much and…”

“And?” Oliver prompts, not liking Raisa’s serious tone or concerned frown as she thrusts a mug of her healing tea into his hands.

“It can kill you both.” She states simply and Oliver freezes.

“She’s in that much pain?” He questions, his heart constricting painfully at the thought and Raisa levels him with a look, shaking her head.

“She needs you, Mr. Oliver. And you need her.” She implores him and Oliver takes a deep breath, trying to force his eyes to focus.

“Soon.”

* * *

Oliver spends the next few days just trying to get through.

His separation sickness worsens as he continues to be unable to feel Felicity at the other end of their bond and when Monday arrives, it is only the thought of possibly ending this and breaking any and all restrictions on their relationship that gets him up and out of bed.

Raisa heads down to the bunker once his father leaves for work and Oliver is glad when his mother agrees to head there when she gets back from her lunch meeting without much fuss. She even agrees to bring Rebecca Merlyn which Oliver knows Tommy will be grateful for.

Thea, as usual, is a different story altogether.

“Ollie! What is going on?” The teenager huffs as they stand at the entrance to the bunker. It turns out that it’s well kitted out and extremely well furnished, appearing more like a basement than the resistant bunker Raisa assures him it is.

“Thea, please. I just need you to stay down here with Raisa, okay?” Oliver implores but his little sister just huffs.

“But why? I should be at school!” She reminds him and Oliver glances over at Raisa in a plea for aid.

“You should do what your brother says, young lady.” Raisa tries to help but Thea merely looks between them both with a deep frown.

“But I don’t understand! It’s just a normal day!” She repeats what she’s been saying over and over, making Oliver sigh.

“It won’t be soon enough.” Raisa states mysteriously and Thea gestures to her with a frown as she looks back to her brother.

“Please, Speedy. For me?” Oliver borders on begging, tilting his head as he looks at his baby sister and Thea finally sighs.

“You’re so weird.” She relents with a roll of her eyes as she takes a step down the stairs into the bunker. Oliver heaves a sigh of relief and smiles at Raisa.

“Speedy, thank you. Mom will join you in a bit, along with a few other people, okay?” He asks and Thea shrugs before she carefully steps around Raisa and heads down into the bunker.

It’s just past lunch and Oliver knows he needs to get moving on his other plans.

“Mr. Oliver, you need to get her now. If they have figured out what is coming, she is their main bargaining chip.” Raisa reminds him and Oliver nods, blinking to clear his clouded mind. He prays that the short time he’ll spend with Felicity as her brings her to the bunker will help him to think a little clearer before he heads out into the streets to help the Lawless.

“I know.” He tells her, the Palmer residence being next on his list. Raisa has provided him with the code to the backdoor and with one last reassuring smile to Thea, he makes his way across the square to the house he used to share with Laurel.

It’s eerily quiet as he enters and whilst the kitchen looking entirely unassuming, the living room is a totally different matter.

There’s stuff everywhere, it looks like the house has been completely upturned. Pillows are strewn across the floor and the couch cushions have been pulled off and flung halfway across the room.

The rest of the house appears to be in a similar state as Oliver makes his way up the stairs and what baffles him most is the locked door to the lab being swung wide open.

He knows that’s where he needs to go almost instinctively but instead of finding Felicity, he finds Palmer on the floor of the lab, surrounded by disarray as this room too has been flung apart.

“Queen! I… I…” Palmer flies up from the floor at the sight of him and Oliver frowns as he takes him in. The man looks totally shot. His eyes are bloodshot and his usually impeccable suit is in total disarray. His hair is a mess and his cheeks are lined with tear tracks. The sight of him in such a state and no sign of Felicity immediately fills Oliver with both anger and fear.

“What happened, Palmer?” He questions as he looks around but there’s no sign of his soulmate anywhere. There is, however, a clear sign of a struggle.

“They… they… there was nothing I could do. They just appeared and then she was gone. They took her.” Ray explains and Oliver freezes.

She’s gone.

She’s been taken.

She’s not safe.

“Who took her?” Oliver immediately growls, his vision and mind clearer than they have been in days.

He should have suspected something like this. He can’t believe he trusted Palmer to keep her safe. He’s such an idiot.

“I… I…” The other (far clearer) idiot stutters, and Oliver growls, stalking over to him.

“Palmer! Palmer, where the fuck is she?” He questions loudly, gripping the man by his shirt and hauling him up close to his face.

Palmer’s eyes go wide for a moment and he gulps before he finally gives some useful information. “Chase. Chase took her.”

“Chase? You let Chase take her?” Oliver’s hands go slack and Palmer scurries away from him but Oliver can’t focus on that. Of all the possible scenarios, this is worst case. Chase has it out for Felicity anyway simply because she dared to step slightly outside of the Society’s mould but if he gets wind of her connection to Oliver in the slightest, he’ll rip her limb from limb and enjoy the process greatly.

“What was I supposed to do?” Palmer bumbles, looking at Oliver imploringly but Oliver just scoffs, rolling his eyes.

“Fight! Fight for her, keep her safe like you promised to do. That’s what you should’ve done.” He states simply and he knows that it is. When it comes to Felicity, Oliver knows he’d do anything to keep her safe.

“But I…” Palmer starts but Oliver interrupts, his clear stupidity on the matter only angering him more.

“You don’t even know do you? You have no idea how special she is, how important she is. She is their _only_ hope, and you just handed her over to be used as a bargaining chip.”

His voice gets louder until he’s practically screaming and Palmer looks totally surprised. Oliver can’t find it in him to care, however. He’s far too terrified for Felicity and the fact that Chase has his hands on her.

“What… what do you mean?”

“It’s over, Palmer. The Society, the Omniscient, the control and the power… it’s done, or it will be very soon. But you just gave them the key to fight back, and you just might get Felicity killed in the process.” Oliver’s voice grows more impassioned as he speaks, unable to believe the tomfoolery of the man before him.

“The Society looks after us.” Ray counters with a frown and Oliver scoffs again, shaking his head.

“If you actually believe that, you’re deluded. Your wife has been oppressed and crushed under their thumb since she was sixteen years old. Every woman in this godforsaken place has and if you can’t recognise that, you’re just as complicit in their oppression as everyone else.” Oliver lowers his voice to a normal volume, regarding Palmer with a dirty look.

“What am I supposed to do, Queen? If I fought, I’d have ended up in the cell next to yours at the front.” Palmer questions and Oliver shakes his head, knowing that’s exactly what’s wrong with the man. He’s too caught up in his own survival and pleasure to realise the wrong around him.

It’s what’s wrong with most of the men in The Society.

“Better that than be in league with the Council and the Omniscient.” Oliver counters simply but that seems to enrage the man as he glares back at Oliver.

“Well what about your soulmate? She’s been building tech for the Society for _years._ Doesn’t that make her complicit?” Palmer questions, his confusion clearly morphing into anger.

“If you think she didn’t also kit out the Lawless in the Outlands, you’re a fool. Those people are her family, her home… you were just what she needed to do to survive.” Oliver rounds quickly, Palmer’s anger only aggravating his own.

“You don’t know what you’re talking about, Queen.” Palmer scoffs but Oliver just shakes his head.

“We’ll see, Palmer. I’ve wasted far too much of my breath on you anyway.” He shrugs, turning and heading for the door. He needs to get to Felicity and wasting time arguing with Palmer isn’t going to help him or her.

“Wait! You need me! You don’t know where Chase’s headquarters are!” Palmer calls after him and Oliver freezes in the door.

“Don’t I?” He questions as he turns around, raising an eyebrow at the pathetic man. “Did you really think I wouldn’t keep an eye on the man who has had a want to remove my head from my neck for five years? I know exactly where he is, Palmer, and I don’t need your pathetic ass for anything.”

With that he turns back around and heads out of the house.

He moves quickly from there, running through the streets as he makes his way to the outskirts of Starling City. Scoping out the location of Chase’s city base was one of the first things he did upon returning and he’s grateful for that information now as he climbs over the tall fences that line the derelict looking building.

Three guards stand by the door but a quick distraction of a rock thrown behind the building allows him to slip inside.

The rooms along the dark and dingy corridor are all empty but show obvious signs of struggle and Chase’s usual methods of choice. Oliver shakes his head, forcing the memories of his own time with Chase from his mind as he follows the only source of noise in the building to the room right at the end of the corridor.

There, through the open door, is Chase. He’s crouched on the ground, hair a mess and sadistic smirk on his face as he looms over a figure shackled to the ground with a bloodied knife in his hand. The figure is small, curled up, and very clearly blonde.

_Felicity._

Chase looks up at the sound of Oliver stepping through the doorway and smirks, standing slowly as he tilts his head. “Well look at that.”

“Chase.” Oliver states bitterly, his stomach turning and his heart constricting as he looks down at Felicity to see that her shirt has been ripped open and Chase’s knife has clearly previously found a home in her stomach. She’s bleeding heavily and Oliver forces himself to even his breathing as the panic rises in him.

“I was wondering when you might join us, Queen. You see, Mrs Palmer and I here have just been having a little conversation.” Chase smirks, meandering over to him slowly.

“Ol…ver…” Felicity groans, turning slightly on the floor before she cries out in pain, and Oliver winces with her at the sight.

“Shut up!” Chase yells, stalking back over to her and kicking her harshly in the side. Oliver moves quickly as Felicity screams. He manages to take Chase by surprise and he grabs the knife from his hand, throwing it into the opposite corner.

“Get your fucking hands off of her!” Oliver growls, pushing against Chase’s shoulder and forcing him back into the wall with an arm under his throat.

“Oh! How interesting! Why so interested in a little Society wife, Queen?” Chase smirks, raising an interested eyebrow and looking seemingly unfazed by his position under Oliver’s control.

“No one deserves your crap, Chase, especially not her.” Oliver bites, his heart screaming out as he lies but he knows it’s the right thing to do. If Chase has been this cruel to Felicity without knowing their connection, knowing they’re soulmates would only make him act with ten times the ferocity.

“Please, if that little bitch could have just done the only thing she’s worth keeping her alive for and obeyed her husband, she wouldn’t be here.” Chase smirks and Oliver moves quickly, sending his knee into the asshole’s hip and then his abdomen.

“She’s worth so much more than you are, than any of you.” Oliver spits at him and Chase smirks, easily moving out of Oliver’s hold so that they’re stood facing each other.

“Always so aggressive, Queen. You always think you’re ahead of the game, but the truth is… I will always be five steps ahead of you.” The sadistic commissioner smirks with a shrug as if to prove he’s ahead of Oliver but just as he does so, the bells start to chime.

“You think, Chase? Funny, I think I have some friends who might think differently.” Oliver smirks himself as the sound of someone running up the corridor hits his ears.

“Boss! It’s the Council! You’re needed at Headquarters immediately!” The guard frowns as he swings round the door in a panic and Chase frowns, looking between the clearly frazzled guard, Oliver, and Felicity.

“This isn’t over, Queen. I’ll have your head and her pretty one too. Of course, I might have a little fun with her first. She really is gorgeous, you know… for a bitch.” Chase states bitterly, pausing to bend back down by Felicity to run his slimy fingers through her hair before he follows thr guard from the room, yelling orders to him.

Oliver pays him no mind, immediately heading for Felicity and bending down next to her. She’s clearly in a bad way, her stomach isn’t the only injury. Her pale skin is covered in bruises and small cuts and there’s a bad looking injury on her temple as well.

“Ol…ver…” She groans, reaching a hand up towards him and Oliver winces at the clear difficulty she’s having speaking.

“Hey, hey, it’s okay, you’re okay.” He whispers, removing his jacket before he clasps her outstretched hand. He uses the other one to press his jacket against the wound on her stomach and winces when she squeezes his hand.

“I… hurts.” She groans and Oliver’s heart constricts painfully at the sound. He wishes he could do something… anything to take her pain away but he’s so hopeless right now.

“I know, sweetheart. We’re going to get you somewhere safe and get you all sorted, okay?” He whispers, bending to kiss their entwined hands.

“Just… need… you…” Felicity groans painfully and Oliver frowns as he guides her own arm over to hold the jacket against her wound.

“Well that’s part of it, but honey, you’ve got a pretty big gash in your abdomen that’s nothing to do with separation sickness.” He explains softly, brushing her matted hair away from her face.

“I do?” Felicity frowns but Oliver gently presses her back down when she tries to sit up to look at it.

“Yeah, just hold on, okay? We’ll get you somewhere safe.”

“Ol’ver, I…” She sighs and Oliver freaks as her eyes clearly slip out of focus.

“Felicity? Felicity, stay with me!” He calls but she takes a _very_ shaky breath.

“I…” She tries but her eyes roll back in her head before she passes out.

“Felicity! Felicity!” Oliver calls in panic but she doesn’t respond. Oliver feels his heart stunt as he stares down at her lifeless form before he scoops her up and rushes out the door.

He doesn’t know what he’s going to do with what’s going on outside but he knows he has to get her to someone who can help.

Fast.


End file.
